AHMEDABAD: With the 2027 Gujarat Assembly election approaching, Gujarat Congress faces a fresh organisational challenge in the state’s two biggest municipal corporations. More than five months after the April civic polls, the party is yet to appoint Leaders of the Opposition in Ahmedabad and Vadodara, with factional differences now prompting the AICC to step in and appoint observers.
The delay has put the spotlight on Congress’s ability to turn its electoral presence into an effective opposition machinery in Gujarat. The issue has assumed significance because the two municipal corporations are among the most politically important urban battlegrounds in Gujarat.
Although the civic polls were held on April 26 and the results were declared on April 28, the Congress has still not been able to settle on its principal opposition faces in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC).
The delay has now prompted the All India Congress Committee (AICC) to intervene directly. According to the information provided by sources, Ganganagar MP Kuldeep Indora has been appointed observer for Ahmedabad, while AICC national secretary Gopinath Palaniyappan has been assigned Vadodara.
The move comes after the state unit’s consultation exercise failed to break the deadlock. The intervention is significant because, rather than allowing the state unit to take the final call, the AICC will now examine the feedback from local leaders and corporators before the appointments are finalised.
The political backdrop makes the delay even more striking. In Ahmedabad, the BJP won 160 of 192 seats, while Congress secured 32. In Vadodara, the BJP captured 69 of 76 seats, leaving Congress with just six and one seat going to another candidate. Thus, while Congress retained enough representation in both corporations to claim the Leader of the Opposition post, the party has been unable to convert those numbers into a settled leadership structure.
In Rajkot, where Congress won seven of 72 seats against the BJP’s 65, the party has already appointed its Leader of the Opposition.
Ahmedabad: Pathan-Bakshi contest exposes fault lines
The most visible battle is unfolding in Ahmedabad. According to Congress Party sources, former Leader of the Opposition Shehzad Khan Pathan and corporator Nirav Bakshi are reportedly in contention for the post.
However, the contest has moved beyond a simple choice between two names. “Different Congress factions are backing different candidates, with a Congress MLA supporting one contender while the state Congress president is backing the other,” sources said.
As a result, the issue has remained stuck despite repeated discussions. Congress leaders have also travelled to Delhi several times in an attempt to settle the matter, but the competing positions have continued to hold up the final decision.
The state unit subsequently conducted consultations among party members to assess support for the post. Yet, because the consultation failed to produce consensus, the matter has effectively moved to the AICC’s court.
Five-month delay becomes a political talking point
The prolonged vacancy is now becoming more than an organisational issue for Congress. With Gujarat heading towards the next Assembly election cycle in 2027, the episode raises questions about the party’s ability to maintain a coordinated opposition structure in key urban centres.
The April results had already underlined the scale of the BJP’s organisational dominance across Gujarat’s municipal landscape. The BJP won all 15 municipal corporations that went to polls, including Ahmedabad and Vadodara.
Against that backdrop, Congress' continued internal disagreement over two important opposition posts gives the BJP’s dominance another political dimension. Congress has elected representatives in the two corporations, but has yet to put a settled leadership face at the head of its opposition benches. Now, with the AICC observers entering the process, the immediate test for Congress is not merely to select two Leaders of the Opposition, but to demonstrate that its state and city-level factions can work through internal differences and build a functioning opposition structure ahead of the next major electoral battle.