Fat dog, big win: Gola beats Googoo by 40,000 votes in Delhi contest

The polling results included 92,598 online votes and 1,042 offline votes across the four polling centres in the city.

The social media campaigns, posters, and arguments with friends and family paid off on Thursday for fans of Gola, who resided at the SDA market in south Delhi and died before the competition began, after she was crowned as the Capital’s favourite “fat dog” over her competitor Googoo from Saket with a margin of nearly 40,000 votes.

Gola had been a front-runner for much of the competition and stayed on the ballot despite demands that posthumous candidates should have been removed. (Fat Dogs of Delhi official website)

The win capped over week of frenzy in the city after the contest between 64 dogs first started on September 24 on the Instagram account ‘fat dogs of Delhi’. After six rounds of online voting, only Gola and Googoo remained.

According to the latest post, 94,000 people voted in the election.

This included 92,598 online votes and 1,042 offline votes across the four polling centres in the city. 66,954 people voted for Gola, while her rival Googoo secured 27,046 votes, the Instagram post further said.

“The result today marks the end of this historic event...the world’s first online fat dog competition,” it added. The page, which started with 1,500 followers when the competition began, had over 101,000 votes on Thursday. While no awards had been planned initially, the account said they had received donations and sponsors and would now be giving gifts, including beds, collars, food, and supplements, among other benefits, to help the street dogs.

Gola's last days

Gola had been a front-runner for much of the competition and stayed on the ballot despite demands, particularly from supporters of Googoo, that posthumous candidates should have been removed.

At the SDA market, where Gola, also known as Kebab and Rajpal Singh, spent much of her life, some shopkeepers still remember her as “Laali”. While they weren’t sure when she died, they said Gola had become increasingly frail in her final days, struggling to sit or sleep and gaining a lot of weight.

Sheikh Imran, who works at a medical store, said shopkeepers in the market had been looking after Gola for the past few years. “She died around one-and-a-half to two months ago. In her last days, she had become very fat and was unable to sit or sleep properly,” he said.

A staffer at Aap Ki Khaatir restaurant said Gola was usually seen lying around the C1-C3 blocks of the market. “She had difficulty sitting, but was very cute and patient with strangers. We last saw her around July-August,” he said.

Hariom, who works at a sweets shop, said shopkeepers would give Gola treats occasionally but did not believe her weight gain was because of food. “We used to give her treats sometimes, but she was not fat because of food. I think she had some illness,” he said.