The late Gola, also known as Kebab, also known as Rajpal Singh, pawed past Googoo and appeared set to be crowned Delhi’s Fattest Dog, an HT exit poll at one of the voting stations found.
HT spoke to 49 voters at Aku’s in Vasant Vihar, one of four voting stations to cast ballots for the finals, and Gola was set for a landslide.
As of 7pm, 38 put their weight behind Gola, who used to lord over the SDA Market in south Delhi. Only 11 backed Googoo, much to the trepidation of Saket residents, who alleged a conspiracy and argued that posthumous candidates should have been dropped from the ballot.
Voting booths closed at 7pm
The voting booths opened at 3pm and closed at 7pm, and the ballots there are likely to be just a fraction of the count on Instagram, where the contest that has held Delhi in its jaws for a week, first began.
And it was just as much of a landslide online. At 7pm, Gola led polling with 71% votes against Googoo’s 29%.
{{/usCountry}}And it was just as much of a landslide online. At 7pm, Gola led polling with 71% votes against Googoo’s 29%.
{{/usCountry}}But supporters of the 63 other contenders were just not having it.
A group of voters staged a protest at Fes in Kamla Nagar. They wanted Chonkers to be in the finals and were not happy with the finalists. At the Vasant Vihar joint, two 18-year-olds Bhavya and Garv said, "Googoo looks like a gangster and is cute. But Googoo is not fat enough. We support Gola but even Tara Singh or Gajinder could have been in the finals."
Abhinn, a Delhi University student who was the polling booth officer at the Vasant Vihar said the support was unexpected.
"We have seen huge crowds since morning. We even saw an elderly couple who told us they followed the page and wanted to caste their votes. As of now, more than 90 people have voted. It looks like a landslide victory for Gola. I was the one who submitted his photos for the page," he said.
Gola competed posthumously, having passed away just ahead of the finale, after beating Hero, the fat dog of Malviya Nagar, in the semis.
“They call her comet because she is Gola and she is trailblazing. leader of the prediction bracket, no one doubted even for a second that Gola would make it to the Finale,” the organisers said on Instagram.
Googoo, per the handle, pulled off a historic upset in the semi-final match over Tara, “with a slim lead of 4,873 votes”.
Sukalpa, 32, a dentist, said she was staunchly in the Gola lobby.
"I've been following the elections since they began and got my friend Renu here. We are both rooting for Gola. I even met Gola and I'm happy with the finalists," she said.
Bhavya and Garv, both aged around 18, said they support Gola and argued Googoo is only there in the finals because he's cute. They had unerring views of what they expected of the finalists in the Fat Dogs of Delhi contest.
"Googoo looks like a gangster. He's cute but he's not the fattest dog. To be fair to the election, Tara Singh or some other dog should have been here. Gajinder was also fat enough to be in finals. We are happy to be here for Gola since he's clearly the more deserving one," they said, with equal fervour.
College students Sarthak and Sakshi have also been in it from the start, firmly behind Googoo.
"I've always supported Googoo. Gola is also a deserving candidate but there have been better candidates. For me, it's always been Googoo. He's chonky and deserves to win. It's fun and absurd. But better than actual voting," said Sarthak.
But Sukalpa had a word of consolation for the others. “There were other good contenders too.”
In the immortal words of WeRateDogs, “They’re good dogs.”