The counting of votes polled in elections to six municipal corporations in Gujarat began here today amidst tight security arrangements and initial trends indicate that BJP is leading in all of them.

The BJP is ahead in Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Vadodara, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar for which voting was held on Sunday.

In Ahmedabad, BJP is leading in 20 seats and the Congress is leading in 10 seats while in Surat, the BJP is leading 18 and the Congress is leading in six seats.

In Rajkot, BJP is leading in 16 and Congress in two seats while in Vadodara, the BJP is leading in 17 seats and Congress is leading in eight seats.

In Jamnagar, the BJP is leading in 15 seats and the Congress is leading in six seats while in Bhavnagar BJP is leading in 28 seats and the Congress is leading in eight seats.

Over 2,100 candidates are in fray for more than 558 seats for elections in six municipal corporations in Gujarat.

Ruling BJP as well as opposition Congress had campaigned extensively and had also roped in national leaders for the polls.

The BJP had made the arrest of Amit Shah, close aide of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, by CBI in Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, as one of the main issues, as all its national leaders alleged that the arrest amounted to misuse of CBI by the Congress and asked people to give its mandate through the ballot papers.

Congress on the other hand had focused more on local issues saying that the corporation polls were about civic amenities and highlighted assistance given to the state under Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission for development of infrastructure in cities.

Counting is in progress in 14 centres in six cities.

The BJP had won all the six municipal corporations in the last elections held in 2005.