The Bharatiya Janata Party swept the local body elections in Gujarat, winning all the six municipal corporations for which elections were held Sunday.
The Congress not only suffered a humiliating defeat, it could not open its account in Surat.
The popped up youth leaders like Hardik Patel and Jignesh Mevani could not leave behind any impact on the outcome of the polls.
Hardik is the working president of the Congress in the state and Jignesh is an Independent MLA supported by Congress and Aam Aadmi Party.
They were projected as the rising face of the opposition in Gujarat in the 2017 assembly elections.
In the 2017 assembly elections, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party had not put up any candidate against Jignesh Mevani in the Vadgam constituency. In July last year, Hardik was appointed the Working President of the party in the state.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party won 483 of the total 576 seats in the six corporations.
The Congress was limited to single digits in three corporations, winning only 4 seats in Rajkot, 7 in Vadodara and 8 in Bhavnagar. In Jamnagar, it won 11 and in Ahmedabad, it won 25 of 192 seats.
The major embarrassment was Surat where the party could not open its account.
The BJP won 159 of 192 in Ahmedabad, 68 of 72 in Rajkot, 50 of 64 in Jamnagar, 44 of 52 in Bhavnagar, 69 of 76 in Vadodara and 93 of 120 in Surat.
The new entrant Aam Aadmi Party won 27 seats in Surat.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked the people of Gujarat for their faith and support to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Gujarat BJP President CR Patil met the Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Ahmedabad after the results were declared. All three thanked the people of Gujarat for giving BJP another opportunity to serve the masses.
