Gandhinagar: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has further consolidated its position in Gujarat’s local body elections, securing around 300 seats unopposed even before polling, following the conclusion of scrutiny of nomination papers on Monday.

According to officials, the BJP had already won 135 seats unopposed by the last day of nomination filing on Saturday. After scrutiny on Monday, the party added another 165 seats, significantly increasing its tally of uncontested victories. With the deadline for withdrawal of nominations set for 3 pm on April 15, the final figures are expected to change further.

Out of the total 9,992 seats across 393 local self-government bodies, more than 300 seats had already been decided without voting by Monday night.

State Election Commission officials said that over 300 seats remained uncontested as of Monday night. This includes 20 seats in municipal corporations, 178 in municipalities, 12 in district panchayats, and 90 in taluka panchayats. In comparison, 221 seats had remained uncontested in the 2021 local body elections, of which 220 were won by the BJP.

During scrutiny, a large number of nomination forms were rejected due to technical errors, including discrepancies in signatures, affidavits, and proposer details. Of the 39,387 nomination forms filed (including by-elections), 9,520 were rejected, leaving around 29,792 candidates in the fray.

For the general elections alone, 29,763 candidates were cleared to contest 9,992 seats. By-elections were also held for 13 seats across 11 municipalities, where 40 nominations were filed. Of these, 11 were rejected, leaving 29 candidates in the contest, including those from the BJP, Congress, and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Officials said the final electoral picture will become clearer after the withdrawal deadline on April 15.

In a significant development, the BJP secured a clear majority in Gandevi Municipality in Navsari district after 18 Congress candidates failed to submit mandatory documents within the stipulated time. Election officials said the candidates were delayed by about 10 minutes in submitting the required party mandate, leading to the rejection of their nomination forms.

An election officer explained that candidates of recognised political parties must submit authorisation forms—Form ‘A’, signed by the party’s authorised office-bearer, and Form ‘B’, confirming candidature—at least three hours before the nomination deadline. Failure to comply results in cancellation of the nomination.

Apart from Gandevi, the BJP has also secured a majority in several other local bodies, including Shehra Municipality in Panchmahal district and Unjha Municipality in Mehsana district, due to a large number of uncontested seats.

In Shehra Municipality, 15 out of 28 BJP candidates were declared elected unopposed. Additionally, seven candidates in the taluka panchayat and one in the district panchayat were also elected without contest. DeshGujarat