India, April 26 -- Polling is underway for 15 municipal corporations, 84 municipalities, 34 district panchayats, and 260 taluka panchayats across Gujarat, the first such exercise in the state after the electoral roll Special Intensive Revision, marred by allegations of pressure and inducements behind large-scale withdrawal of candidates of Opposition parties.

The local polls are being held a year before the 2027 assembly elections in the state, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been in power since 1995. In 2015, the Congress gained ground in the local polls. It carried the momentum to the 2017 assembly elections, reducing the BJP to 99 in the 182-member House. The Congress's tally rose to 77, its highest tally in decades.

In 20...