Post-demonetization, BJP faces first poll test

SURAT/RAJKOT: Two municipalities in south Gujarat and Gondal taluka panchayat went to elections on Sunday, the first electoral test for the Gujarat BJP after Prime Minister’s announcement to demonetize Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.
The municipalities of Vapi and Kanakpur-Kansad in Valsad district registered around 66% and 62% turnouts respectively while Gondal taluka panchayat saw around 55% turnout.
The elections were necessitated in the municipalities as their terms ended while Gondal civic body was dissolved last year after a tie between the Congress and BJP.
The results of the two local bodies on November 29 would help the BJP leadership gauge the mood of the people in Gujarat, which will see assembly elections next year, on the decision taken to scrap Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes.
Barring municipal corporations, BJP had witnessed severe electoral reverses in the civic body elections held last November, mainly due to the Patidar quota stir.
While demonetization did heavily play on voters’ minds, Munga-Vavdi village under Gondal taluka panchayat boycotted the elections to protest the severe hardships being faced by farmers in wake of scrapping of the notes. BJP and Congress workers even came to blows in Harmatiya village. However, tension was defused immediately by the police.
Kanakpur-Kansad saw around 66.73 per cent votes being polled with 11,430 exercising their franchise of the total 17,129. Some ward even saw a massive 85 per cent turnout.
In Vapi, which has a significant population of urban electorate, around 62 per cent voting was recorded with around 52,000 people cashing their vote of the total around 85,000 for 42-member board. “Although we are witnessing hardship due to demonetization, the long-term benefits will be good,” said Bhagu Patel of Kanakpur –Kansad, who works in a bank.