Vadodara: Muslim voters didn’t vote for Congress party’s Hindu and Muslim candidates unitedly, resulting into division of Muslim votes and victories of several BJP candidates in Vadodara Municipal Corporation elections, claimed Congress leaders from Muslim community. Gujarat Congress General Secretary Chirag Sheikh and Vadodara Youth Congress Vice President Arbaaz Pathan raised concerns over the outcome.

According to them, candidates fielded by AIMIM and the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) in several wards led to a split in Muslim votes. They stated that in areas where the Congress had a presence, multiple candidates contesting from similar voter bases contributed to divided electoral support.

They pointed to wards 6 and 14, where Muslim candidates contested, and also referred to wards 1, 7, 8, 10, and 15, where AIMIM candidates were in the fray. They observed that Congress party’s Hindu and Muslim candidates lost by narrow margins in multiple wards due to a chunk of Muslim votes going to Muslim candidates of AIMIM, AAP and NCP, rather than the candidates of Congress party. DeshGujarat