Other colours fade under saffron wave

Vadodara: A powerful saffron wave swept all the seven districts of Central Gujarat with BJP winning almost all district panchayats, taluka panchayats and municipalities in the region.
Tuesday’s results of the local body elections ended BJP’s electoral drought in traditional Congress strongholds putting a crimp in Congress camp.
BJP established a clear majority in Vadodara district panchayat where Congress was reduced to single digit.BJP won on 27 seats while Congress got only seven. Seven talukas in the district saw BJP having a clear majority in taluka panchayats even as Desar threw up a fractured mandate with no clear majority. Congress faced a complete rout in Panchmahal district panchayat polls with BJP winning all 38 seats. The saffron party also established a majority on all the seven taluka panchayats in the district. It also won Shehra Nagarpalika.
Mahisagar district where BJP had managed to wrest power from Congress thanks to defections in 2018 also saw BJP win 22 of 28 seats while Congress won only six. All six taluka panchayats went to BJP here.
Dahod was no surprise with BJP trouncing Congress by bagging 43 of 50 seats in the district panchayat. All nine taluka panchayats here also went to BJP. The party won 31 out of 36 seats in Dahod municipality too leaving only five for Congress.
It was for the first time after Chhota Udepur was carved out as a separate district from Vadodara in January 2013 that BJP won majority seats of district panchayat. Of the 32 seats, the saffron party won 27 seats while Congress was reduced to just four seats even as result of one seat was pending. In 2015, Congress had won 21 seats while BJP had won ten while one had gone to an independent candidate.
The taluka panchayats in the district too were snatched away from the Congress this time. BJP’s 90 candidates won in six taluka panchayats while Congress was reduced to 37 from its previous tally of 84.