NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the BJP's winning show in the Bengaluru civic polls, saying people's faith in his party "is humbling and gladdening".
"People's continuous faith in the BJP is humbling and gladdening," Modi tweeted as results showed the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the Congress in the election.
"We are fully committed to fulfilling (the) aspirations of 125 crore Indians," he said.
The prime minister said after similar civic polls wins in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the Bengaluru results "complete a hat-trick of wins for the BJP".
"This is a win for politics of development and good governance.
"Thank you Bengaluru! My gratitude to (the) people and congratulations to Karnataka BJP leaders and workers for the great election results," he added.
Polling was held in 197 of the 198 wards on Saturday in which 49.3 percent voting was registered, as over 36 lakh of the 74 lakh electorate exercised their franchise in the day-long election, marred by some irregularities and rain.
Though the expanded Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has 198 wards, BJP candidate Bharati Ramachandra, 45, was declared elected unanimously from the Hongasandra (ward #189) after the nomination of Congress candidate K. Maheshwari was rejected on August 13 for submitting a fake caste certificate.
The century-old BBMP was expanded in 2007 by including seven city municipal councils, one town municipal council and 111 surrounding villages to increase civic wards to 198 from 100.
Delimitation of the wards on the basis of the 2011 population census with 50 percent of them reserved for women have forced political parties to field wives or relatives of former corporators as contestants in many wards.
In all, 1,120 candidates, including 197, 198 and 187 from BJP, Congress and JD-S respectively, a dozen from regional outfits like Vatala Chaluvali Paksha, AIADMK and Socialist Democratic Party of India and 399 Independents, including many rebels contested in the bitterly fought civic election.
In the previous five-year term (2010-2015), the BJP ruled the BBMP for the first time by winning in 116 wards, as against 62 wards by the Congress, 14 by JD-S and eight by Independents.
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