GOPAL YADAV of Bharatiya Janata Party has been elected as Nagda Nagar Palika president. In a close contest, he defeated Krishnakant Jaiswal of the Congress by a margin of 629 votes. Counting of votes was carried out amidst tight security arrangements on Friday. Over 37,000 voters had exercised their franchise on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a controversy has erupted over the number of votes polled during the election when a difference of 668 votes emerged in the figures given by the administration on voting day and during counting on Friday. The losing Congress party protested before the returning officer after the declaration of results.
Defeated candidate Krishnakant Jaiswal said the administration officially informed that 36,337 voters exercised their rights, but when counting was done 668 votes were found short in ballot boxes.
The Congress has lost the election by a very thin margin. As news of difference in votes spread, a large number of Congress activists congregated at the SDM office and staged a dharna. They questioned as to why such difference had occurred and demanded they be provided full booth0wise information of the voting. The dharna was on at the time of filing of this report.
Collector Neeraj Mandloi also admitted that difference had occurred between the two figures, but said administration compiled the figures of voting on the basis of format given by the polling parties and number of ballots found in boxes were final and binding.
{{/usCountry}}Collector Neeraj Mandloi also admitted that difference had occurred between the two figures, but said administration compiled the figures of voting on the basis of format given by the polling parties and number of ballots found in boxes were final and binding.
{{/usCountry}}He said full details under Schedule 23 were being made available to the complaining candidate.