Voters in Gandhinagar elect a new municipal corporation on Sunday, October 11. Polling for the 44 seats across 11 wards runs from 7 am to 6 pm on electronic voting machines, with a re-poll on October 12 if any booth needs one and counting on October 13, according to the State Election Commission schedule reported by PTI and Gujarat Samachar.
Why the capital votes in October
Most of Gujarat’s cities picked their councils in April, when fifteen municipal corporations went to the polls on one day. Gandhinagar sits outside that cycle. Its last general election took place in October 2021, so its five-year council term runs out this month. The corporation itself dates only to March 2010, when the state set it up after a 2009 Gujarat High Court ruling. Before that, the planned capital ran under a notified area authority with no elected council.
The 2021 baseline
The BJP won 41 of the 44 seats five years ago. Congress took two and AAP one. The seat count hides a closer vote split: the BJP polled about 46.5 per cent, Congress about 28 per cent and AAP close to 22 per cent, as Deccan Herald reported at the time. Congress leaders blamed AAP for splitting the anti-BJP vote. Congress and AAP together polled roughly as many votes as the BJP, yet split between them, those votes converted into three seats against the BJP’s 41.
The opposition bench then shrank further. Ankit Barot, one of the two Congress winners and later Leader of Opposition in the corporation, quit the party in March 2024 along with Gajendrasinh Vaghela, PTI reported. The BJP has now fielded Barot from Ward 3, per PTI and IANS.
Who is on the ballot
The BJP named candidates for all 44 seats. Congress completed its list on the last day of nominations, September 26. AAP said 41 of its candidates had filed papers, IANS reported. The final number in the fray, after scrutiny on September 28 and withdrawals on September 29, sits with the State Election Commission; party announcements do not settle it.
The open question is whether Congress and AAP split the anti-BJP vote again, or whether one of them consolidates it. With two former Congress corporators now on the BJP side, Congress enters with no sitting councillors of its own.
What the corporation controls
For a Gandhinagar household, the 44 corporators decide the services you deal with every week: water supply, drainage, roads inside the sectors and the newer areas, street lights, solid waste collection and property tax rates. Each ward elects four corporators. The model code of conduct, in force since September 16, has frozen new policy announcements inside municipal limits, Gujarat Samachar noted, so pending decisions on these services will wait for the new council.
Before you go to vote
- Check your name and booth on the electoral roll before Sunday.
- Carry your Elector Photo Identity Card (EPIC). The commission accepts certain other photo documents for voters without one.
- Polling hours are 7 am to 6 pm.
What to watch on October 13
Watch the turnout, the combined Congress and AAP vote share, and whether the BJP holds more than 40 seats. A strong showing by one opposition party would matter for Gandhinagar North and South ahead of the 2027 Assembly election. A repeat of the 2021 split would leave the capital with a near-empty opposition bench for another five years.
Sources: PTI via ThePrint (schedule), PTI via ThePrint (candidates), Gujarat Samachar, IANS via NewKerala, Deccan Herald (2021 result)
This report was compiled and written with AI assistance from publicly reported sources, and reviewed for accuracy.