Ahmedabad:
The BJP has faced its most significant symbolic defeat in the 2026 local body elections as the Congress secured a clean sweep in Ahmedabad’s Khadia ward. For the first time in nearly seven decades, the Congress won all four municipal seats in a region that is widely recognised as the birthplace of the BJP’s political movement in Gujarat.
The loss is being viewed as a historic reversal for the ruling party, as Khadia had remained an undefeated stronghold for the Jan Sangh and subsequently the BJP since the early 1970s.
Khadia’s political identity has been synonymous with the rise of the BJP, serving as the primary testing ground for the Jan Sangh’s grassroots organisation long before the BJP was formally established in 1980.
The area was the lifelong political base of Ashok Bhatt, who represented the constituency for eight consecutive terms and served as speaker of the Gujarat assembly. His son, Bhushan Bhatt, who has also served as MLA from Jamalpur-Khadia assembly seat, had maintained the family’s deep-rooted influence over the walled city until this unprecedented shift in voter sentiment.
The primary catalyst for the upset is being attributed to a controversial campaign statement made by Bhushan Bhatt earlier this month. During a public rally, Bhatt sparked a major political row by telling voters that the party would “not let Khadia become another Pakistan.”
The remark, intended to mobilise the traditional base, reportedly triggered a significant backlash among the local electorate. Voters in the heritage ward expressed resentment over the rhetoric, viewing it as an attempt to distract from pressing civic issues such as the maintenance of old-city heritage structures and deteriorating infrastructure.
While the BJP has maintained its overall dominance across the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, the loss of Khadia marks the end of decades of political hegemony in the party’s safest seat.
The victory for the Congress in reclaiming a territory it had not fully controlled since the mid-20th century represents a major morale booster for the Opposition.