Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], January 18 (ANI): Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal said the BJP could not cross the majority mark in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, which clearly showed that the people are against them.
Speaking to reporters in Ahmedabad, Arvind Kejriwal said, “Despite facilitating such discrepancies, they (BJP) could not touch the majority mark. So, this clearly shows that the public is against them, but they misuse machinery.”
The AAP national convener is on a three-day visit to Gujarat. He alleged that the “BJP pushed Gujarat into a ditch in the last 30 years”
Kejriwal alleged, “For the last 30 years, the BJP has been ruling Gujarat. In these 30 years, the BJP pushed Gujarat into a ditch. There is fear and corruption everywhere. They scare and threaten people who raise their voices against them, against injustice; they are jailed. They do corruption openly. Nobody can raise a voice against their corruption.”
“People are looking at AAP with great hope. In the last 6-7 months, AAP has been conducting rallies across the entire state of Gujarat. People are turning up in large numbers. We don’t even have money; ours is a poor party. But people are coming to AAP rallies at their own expense…I am here on a 3-day visit. I will speak with volunteers and form a strategy,” he added.
Meanwhile, the BMC elections saw the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) alliance emerge as the single largest bloc, while the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) alliance also secured a significant share of seats and votes across Mumbai.
According to official figures released by the State Election Commission and the BMC, the BJP won 89 seats, polling 11,79,273 votes, which accounts for 21.58 per cent of the total votes cast. Among all winning candidates, the BJP’s vote share stands at 45.22 per cent, making it the single largest party in the civic body. Its alliance partner, the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction), secured 29 seats with 2,73,326 votes, translating into 5.00 per cent of the total vote share.
Together, the BJP-Shiv Sena (Shinde) alliance emerged as the largest bloc in the BMC.
On the other side, the Shiv Sena (UBT), contesting in alliance with the MNS, won 65 seats. The UBT-led Sena polled 7,17,736 votes, accounting for 13.13 per cent of the total votes cast. The MNS added 6 seats to the alliance tally, with 74,946 votes and a 1.37 per cent vote share.
The Indian National Congress (INC) secured 24 seats, polling 2,42,646 votes, which represents 4.44 per cent of the total vote share.
Among other parties, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) won 8 seats with 68,072 votes, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) secured 3 seats, the Samajwadi Party won 2 seats, and the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) won 1 seat.
Overall, winning candidates from recognised political parties polled 26,07,612 votes, amounting to 47.72 per cent of the total votes cast. The total number of votes polled in the election stood at 54,64,412, while 11,677 voters opted for NOTA.
While Uddhav and Raj Thackeray tried to consolidate votes over the Marathi language and the revival of the Marathi manoos identity plank, the saffron Yuti’s development work, including the Metro Aqua Line and Coastal Road, helped them gain a lead in the BMC polls. (ANI)