The BJP may have won most of the recent local self-government elections, but there were serious weaknesses in regions where it has enjoyed stronghold. The election outcomes highlighted a general trend of regional dissatisfaction and shifting political allegiances, especially in crucial districts where the party’s hold appeared to be unbreakable.
The upsets the party witnessed in places such as Porbandar and Chhota Udepur reveal chinks in its armour.
An increasing voter division in these regions is highlighted by the emergence of opposition groups like the Samajwadi Party, which has a surprise presence in areas that have historically been dominated by the BJP. These events challenge the BJP’s hegemony and bring to the fore the erratic nature of regional politics, highlighting a subtle but significant realignment of local political forces.
As an analysis by a national daily says that, Dheliben Odedara, 58, who has served as the Kutiyana municipality’s president since 1995, will be sitting in the opposition for the first time in Porbandar. Only 10 of the 24 seats in this Porbandar district municipality were won by the BJP, with the Samajwadi Party taking 14 of them. Odedara told the daily, “I don’t know how all this (the results going against the BJP) happened.”
With 20 of the 28 seats in Ranavav municipality and 14 of the 24 seats in Kutiyana municipality, where Kana, the youngest son of the late ‘Godmother’ Santokben Jadeja, made his debut, the SP gained significant traction, the analysis highlights.
Odedara asserts that she is related to the Jadejas on her “husband’s side” and entered politics in 1995. After winning the seat on the party ticket for the first time in 2022, Kandhal, Kana’s older brother, is currently the SP MLA from Kutiyana. Kandhal formerly represented the undivided Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) as an MLA for the same constituency. Since it upsets the BJP in Kutiyana, the SP’s victory is significant. Odedara keeps her seat, but the party’s majority is gone.
The undivided NCP won 16 seats in Ranavav in 2018, while the BJP got 12 seats.
The Congress gained one seat and the BJP eight in the 28-seat Chhota Udepur Municipality. The BSP, which has a lot of sway in the region, won four seats, while the SP, which ran for office for the first time, surprised everyone by winning six. In the coming days, four independents will also be viewed as kingmakers, while the Sarva Samaj Party has won four seats and the Bharat Navnirman Manch Party has won one, the report by the daily says.
With a total of 869 votes, SP candidate Mufizahmed Shaikh won the seat in the municipality’s Ward 5 by a mere one vote.
Dwarka, Bhanvad, and Salaya are the three municipalities from Devbhumi Dwarka that went to the polls. In Salaya, the Congress won a majority with 15 of the 28 seats, utterly destroying the BJP. With 13 seats, the Aam Aadmi Party, the analysis concludes, might pose a serious threat here.
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