The recently concluded local body elections saw two new entrants — the Gujarat Sarva Samaj Party (GSSP) and the Navin Bharat Nirman Manch (NBNM) — win five seats in Chhota Udepur Municipality, which is the only local body to see at least three-four national parties, and two regional outfits share the mandate. As the BJP reaches out to the smaller parties and Independents to form a board, we look at the new outfits.Founded ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections in 2022 by Gani Kakal, former state president of the Minority Cell of the Republican Party of India (RPI), the GSS unsuccessfully contested three seats — Rapar, Anjar and Gandhidham — in the assembly elections that year. In the Lok Sabha polls in 2024, the party also contested from the Bhavnagar Lok Sabha seat and lost. Kakal, who fought and lost from Anjar in 2022, says, “The reason to contest polls is to have a presence in electoral politics. If we only speak of politics but do not contest polls, the voters will not identify us. Even if we lose, our attempt matters.”Kakal does not elaborate on reasons why his party chose the lone municipality of Chhota Udepur for the February 16 contest but is determined to settle for “nothing less than the two top posts”. He says, “Our party has four candidates. So we will extend support to whoever agrees that the post of president and vice-president will remain with us…” His party won four seats in the Chhota Udepur Municipality.Navin Nirman Bharat ManchDinesh Shana Patel based in Vidyanagar of Anand district is the only public face of the NBNM. It had also fielded four candidates. Farooq Fauda, one its candidates, won on its symbol for the first time, but this is his seventh consecutive term (Chhota Udepur was a Nagar Panchayat or Municipal Bureau until 2013). Fauda, who has previously contested as an Independent as well as from the Congress, has also been the Vice-President of the Municipal Bureau during 2003-2005. Fauda, who won by 1,237 votes, is known for his record of “siding with the governing body boards”.In 2012, Patel had contested the Assembly polls for NBNM from Maninagar against then Chief Minister Narendra Modi and ended at the bottom of the list of 10 contestants from the seat with 187 votes. In 2017, he also contested the Assembly polls from Khambhat Assembly constituency in Anand, which was won by BJP’s Mayur Raval. Patel had secured 971 votes. In Anand, Patel ran a newspaper which is now discontinued.BJP’s outreachThe BJP, which bagged eight seats — its best so far in Chhota Udepur — is now looking to “forge alliances” to get the majority of 15.Following the local body poll results, the spotlight is on six winners of the Samajwadi Party (SP), four of the GSSP, and one of the NBNM. Of the 28 seats in Chhota Udepur, the BJP has won eight seats while the SP, in its first election, bagged six. Bahujan Samaj Party, which had formed a board after winning nine seats in 2018, was reduced to four while the Congress won one. The Chhota Udepur Municipality area is dominated by minorities and tribals, along with a sizable population of dalits.Story continues below this adEven as the BJP is reaching out to parties and Independents to form a board, leaders of the GSSP have made known their “willingness” to join. Former Vice President of the municipality, Zakir Dadi, who won his third term as a councillor, this time from GSSP, says that he, along with three other councillors, approached the GSSP for tickets to contest from Ward number 3.Dadi told this newspaper, “The math is simple. If we contest as a panel — of four councillors — in a ward, the chances of having a say in the formation of the board is higher. To contest as a panel, we need a common symbol, which is possible only if it is a party. It is easy for voters to understand as we have a mixed neighbourhood with a sizeable slum area and illiterate voters. The victory of the panel on a common symbol gives it an identity in the board.”Dadi had contested in 2018 as a BSP candidate and was elected the Vice-President, as the party had bagged nine seats, allied with Independents.Dadi says, “The six winners of SP were originally Congress leaders who had quit the party just a few days before the nominations and sought tickets from the SP to be able to fight as a panel… One of the winners of SP, Rashidabibi Shaikh from Ward 6, in fact, is the wife of the Congress’s Chhota Udepur city unit president Ejaz, who quit just before the local polls.”Story continues below this adWhile the first Board meeting of the municipality is likely to take place by February 28, hectic lobbying is on. Dadi adds, “The mood among the Independents and the winning candidates is that they should side with the ruling party… So, everyone is waiting for the BJP to approach them. While SP and BSP candidates will not be able to join the BJP as the anti-defection law comes into play, all others can switch over to even give BJP a full majority.” Only two Independents have won from this municipality.