The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat today won 5 of 7 municipality seats where byelections were held. All these seats are spread across seven municipalities of 7 different districts.
The seats that BJP bagged are: Boriavi (Anand), Mahudha (Kheda), Vijapur (Mahesana), Patan (Patan) and Talala (Gir Somnath) municipalities. The saffron party also won Randheja taluka panchayat seat in Gandhinagar district.
Among all the eight seats, BJP had won 2 seats previously.
The win is seen as a big boost for the BJP ahead of the crucial Assembly polls slated to be held later this year. The party is in power in this western state from almost last two decades. The current session of 182-member Gujarat Assembly ends early in January next year.
Meanwhile, in Maharashtra, the BJP has claimed to bag the largest number of posts of sarpanch, the elections for which were held on Sunday.
The results assume significance for Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis as it was for the first time in the history of gram panchayat polls that the elections for sarpanch post were held directly.
Elated with the results, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to twitter to thank people of Maharashtra and congratulate CM Fadnavis.