Ruling party confident of retaining power in state’s biggest civic body; Congress expects to regain lost seats, says it will benefit from infighting in BJP.
With the future of 772 candidates in the fray for 189 seats in the 63 wards of Ahmedabad now sealed in ballot boxes till Tuesday, political parties and candidates have been speculating about the poll outcome. The BJP is favoured by most people to return to power in the AMC and the party itself is upbeat with hopes of winning over 125 seats.
At the same time, the BJP’s main rival, the Congress, has not ruled itself out of the race. Many party leaders are optimistic that this time the party will be voted to power in the AMC.
Leaders and workers of the two main parties have been discussing trends in the 63 wards of the city and have analysed voting patterns threadbare. “We have analysed the voting trends and we are convinced that the BJP will get more than 125 seats in the AMC,” said Rakesh Shah, city party chief. He said that his estimate was based on feedback received from party workers in all the wards where voting had taken place on Sunday.
The Congress, on the other hand, is also hopeful of coming to power in the civic body. The party is banking on the infighting that surfaced in the Saffron Party after distribution of tickets. It also expects to regain around 30 seats that it lost by a margin of less than 1,000 votes in the civic polls in October 2005.
“I will not predict the exact number of seats that our party will win,” said Pankaj Shah, city Congress chief. “But I am confident that the BJP’s failures and the selection of right candidates by the Congress will help us regain power in the AMC.” He also said that in the west zone and the new west zone, the Congress will perform better than in any election in the past. BJP dissidents, however, do not have any doubts that the Saffron Party will return to power in the AMC. But they say that the difference between the BJP numbers and that of the Congress in the civic body will not be more than 22-25 seats.
A BJP rebel said that though chief minister Narendra Modi's public meetings were successful, his charisma may not have translated into votes for his party. Voters want corporators who will solve their day-to-day problems concerning water supply, drainage, roads and streetlights, the rebel said. Incidentally, poll in Saijipur-Bogh ward was cancelled because of the death of the Congress candidate Dr Ganpat Parmar. Hence, there was no election for 14 candidates in the fray from three seats in this ward.
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