VADODARA: Just when the Congress was expecting to exploit anti-incumbency against the BJP and make inroads in the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC), it has got a drubbing in the byelection for one of the four seats in Ward No. 11. The Congress lost by a margin of 4,478 votes, higher than in the civic elections of 2015. It had then lost by 4,008 votes.The defeat came as a surprise to the Congress, as it expected to benefit from the low (24.23%) turnout. The ward also has a healthy number of Muslim voters, who the Congress was banking on.As turnout was low across the electorate, the BJP was confident that Muslim voters would not dent its prospects.“We were hopeful of a good result soon after voting finished. Our workers spread out across the constituency to mobilise voters. We were confident that as a large number of voters came out to vote on being encouraged by us, they would have voted for our candidate,” said city unit BJP general secretary Keyur Rokadia.The Congress seems to have failed to capitalise on anti-incumbency and civic issues, particularly the first heavy rains in the city. The party campaigned to highlight the woes of the people due to the rains. It also emphasized the fact that its candidate, Shweta Mehta, was young and educated.The BJP fielded veteran Shakuntala Solanki, who has been with the party for three decades now. She only has a school education, but has been a grassroot worker and went on to become the city unit vice-president.Congress city unit president Prashant Patel said the party lost but managed to scare the BJP. “BJP was forced to ensure that all its councillors, MLAs and state-level functionaries worked for the election,” he said.

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