BJP Tops Gujarat civic polls 2026: Secures all 15 municipal corporations with over 50% vote

With a thumping mandate, the Bharatiya Janata Party sweeps the local body elections in Gujarat – trouncing Congress and decimating AAP in urban and rural elections.

• 15/1Municipal corporations won by BJP
• 50%Total votes in every corporation on
• 9,200Total seats across Gujaratat
• 18AAP wins out of ~5,000 contested

Overview In the local body elections of 2026, held on April 26, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has put forth on

e of its most dominant shows of strength in the state’s political arena, sweeping all 15 municipal corporations.6Voting started early on Tuesday and the results trickled in throughout the day – all corporations showing a BJP mandate with vote shares well over 50%.More than 9,200 seats in 15 municipal corporations, 84 municipalities, 34 district panchayats and 260 taluka panchayats were up for election in what has been one of the largest electoral exercises in the state in recent times.yMore than 4 crore voters turned out to reaffirm faith in the ruling party.”BJP has not only secured seats but also secured m0ore than 50% of the vote in all the corporations, quite a rare achievement in a multi-party contest.”

Corporation	Notable Result	Status
Ahmedabad (AMC)	Crossed majority of 96 seats; won key wards like Vejalpur, Maninagar, Bodakdev	Sweep
Surat	Crossed majority mark comfortably	Sweep
Vadodara	Congress leaders including city president suffered crushing defeats	Sweep
Rajkot	Strong BJP performance across wards	Strong Win
Porbandar	BJP won every single seat — complete clean sweep	Sweep
Navsari	Won 50 of 52 seats; Congress left with just 2	Sweep
Morbi	Maiden election; BJP won 28 of 52 seats in its debut	Strong Win
Nadiad	BJP won all counted wards; Congress yet to open account	Sweep

Nine new corporations go to polls for the first time

One of the most important features of the 2026 municipal elections was the inclusion of nine new municipal corporations – Navsari, Anand, Nadiad, Mehsana, Porbandar, Gandhidham, Morbi, Vapi, and Surendranagar. All were first-time voters and in most of these, BJP put up a strong debut performance, laying down a marker of dominance in the new urban centres of Gujarat.

Collapse of Congress and AAP

The Indian National Congress, which sought to appeal to local issues, struggled to make an impact in urban Gujarat. In Vadodara, top leaders such as city Congress president Amiben Rawat and Dr. Nikul Patel lost by a huge margin in their respective wards. In Nadiad, Congress was shut out of the municipality. The only bright spot for Congress was the Dabhoi municipality, which it won – a significant victory against the BJP.

The Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Gujarat aspirations, which were gaining speed following their 2022 assembly election success, were almost shattered. AAP, which contested around 5,000 seats in all local bodies, secured only 185 seats, with a proportion that suggests a setback from their previous surge.

Voter turnout and election scale

Turnout in municipal corporations was 55.1% with urban areas comparatively lower than rural. The highest turnout was in taluka panchayats (67.26%), followed by district panchayats (66.64%) and municipalities (65.53%). The lowest turnout among corporations was in Gandhidham (46.03%) while the highest was in Vapi, Valsad district (72.29%).

What this result means politically

The huge success of the BJP in Gujarat, the home state of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the “backyard” of Home Minister Amit Shah, once again highlights the party’s organisational capabilities. The fact that it won all 15 corporations with more than 50% vote in a multi-party election is a rare feat in Indian politics.

The outcome will be seen as a confidence-builder for the party for future state and national elections, and will also highlight the problems in both Congress and AAP’s abilities as opposition parties in urban areas of Gujarat.