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The Returning officer of Karjan Assembly Constituency in Vadodara, which is among the many eight seats going to bypolls right this moment, has arrange an inquiry after Congress candidate Kiritsinh Jadeja accused rival Bhartiya Janta Party candidate Akshay Patel of distributing cash for votes. The grievance, filed by Jadeja’s election agent Upendrasinh Rana, contains two videos purportedly exhibiting ‘BJP workers’ distributing cash to voters forward of the polling.
In his grievance, Rana demanded motion in opposition to Akshay Patel and the BJP workers seen in the video, and wished voting on the two cubicles cancelled. The constituency has recorded 5.27 per cent voter turnout till 9 am.
The Returning officer of 147 Karjan Assembly Constituency, Sub Divisional Magistrate KR Patel, confirmed to The Indian Express that the election division has taken cognisance of the grievance and initiated an inquiry into the allegations. “We have begun a probe as it is a serious matter. We received the complaint this morning,” Patel mentioned.
It is just not clear when the purported videos had been filmed, although, in one of many two videos, workers sporting saffron face masks are seen freely giving new Rs 100 notes to voters, asking them to press the ‘kamal Ka button’. The Kamal (Lotus) is BJP’s election image. In one other video, a gaggle of workers is seen allegedly looking for votes for the ‘kamal Ka button’ in a residential space of the village, handing out cash to households after counting the variety of voters in a family.
The contest in Karjan is between BJP’s Akshay Patel, a Congress turncoat trying to retain the seat, and Congress’ Jadeja, who’s seen as an ‘outsider’, however the social gathering is hopeful of profitable again the seat. Akshay, who resigned as MLA earlier than the June Rajya Sabha polls and defected to the BJP, had received in opposition to BJP’s sitting MLA Satish Patel (Nisadiya) by a margin of 3564 votes and with Congress gaining 48% of the vote share. The BJP has traditionally struggled in this Congress bastion, which is dominated by the Patel neighborhood. Incidentally, the BJP has recorded its first ever win in this seat in 2002 with actor Naresh Kanodia, who apassed away final week, as its candidate. BJP leaders admit that Akshay might not be capable to win again the seat on the BJP ticket.
One of the foremost points is the misadministration of the Gandhara sugar cooperative. In truth, earlier than he give up the Congress, Akshay Patel, in March this 12 months, had demanded that the BJP should pursue legal prosecution in opposition to native BJP leaders, accusing them of misappropriation of funds meant for sugar farmers. In September this 12 months, shortly earlier than the bypolls had been introduced, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani disbursed the pending sum of Rs 25 crores to 2908 farmers and farm labourers of this Co-operative.
The final two days of the marketing campaign noticed the BJP holding a number of public condolences on the dying of social gathering’s stalwart and former Chief Minister of Gujarat Keshubhai Patel, with each election workplace of the social gathering in the Constituency organising a meet to pay tribute to the chief. On the final day, in a show of energy, BJP MLAs from Vadodara, Bharuch and Chhota Udepur districts joined a concluding highway show, urging the voters to decide on the ” Kamal Ka button”.
The Congress, which has been dealing with inside bickering after Jadeja’s candidature — native leaders writing to the excessive command to rethink the ‘outsider’ candidate — has banked closely on the marketing campaign of its identified Gujarat leaders like Amit Chavda, Paresh Dhanani, Arjun Modhwadia, Siddharth Patel and a rally and grand roadshow by Hardik Patel, who’s seen because the Patidar chief.
© The Indian Express (P) Ltd
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