Bharuch: In the previous election, Congress had won Chanchvel seat of Vagra taluka panchayat in Bharuch district of Central Gujarat by margin of 1700 votes. This is considered very good margin in taluka panchayat level election. However the latest by-election for this seat turned out to be disappointing for Congress party as its candidate won this seat by just one vote. Yes you heart it right, just by one vote.

Polling for Chanchvel and other vacant taluka panchayat seats across Gujarat was held last Sunday and results were declared yesterday.

After counting of votes of all six booths in Chanchvel taluka panchayat seat, 1511 votes were found in favor of Congress candidate while 1510 in favor of BJP candidate. The Congress candidate thus won the by-poll with just one vote margin. The BJP candidate opposed this verdict and sought recounting. After permission by Mamlatdar, recounting process started, but even at the end of recounting the result was found to be same. Later BJP candidate questioned one vote which was cast in cover. After three and half hours of dispute, the final result was declared in favor of Congress candidate.

Shabana Muhammad Diwan was the candidate of Congress for Chanchvel seat while Ruksana Aiyub Khalifa was fielded by BJP. Total voters for Chanchvel seat were 4103. Ochchan, Chachvel and Badarpura were three booths for this by-poll.

Congress workers active in local party units said the result reflect non-serious approach of some of the party office bearers at district level. They didn’t care to choose proper candidates and went abroad during summer vacation at locations such as Singapore, Hong Kong and America.

It’s worth noting here that Kavi-2 seat of Jambusar taluka panchayat and Kavitha seat of Bharuch taluka panchayat and Chanchvel seat of Vagra taluka panchayat are traditionally considered strong seats for Congress. However BJP has snatched two of three seats this time from Congress and in Chanchvel seat the Congress candidate has secured victory only bar margin of one vote compared to 1700 votes margin previously.

DeshGujarat