Some win by toss and chit, 39 gram pradhans lose by 1 vote

DEHRADUN: The intriguing panchayat polls saw a close finish in 12 district of Uttarakhand . On Monday, a tie was witnessed at two seats, where the winner was decided by toss and chit. At 39 gram pradhan seats, the winning margin was one vote and as many as 129 gram pradhan constituencies registered a defeat by less than three votes.

The gram pradhan election for Bhed seat in Ghansali block of Tehri saw a tie. Both Sushma Devi and Urmila Devi received 179 votes each. The election officer decided to take out a chit to decide the winner. Following the process Sushma Devi was elected as winner.

In a similar instance, there was a tie at Pali gram Pradhan seat in Pithoragarh district . Both Pushpa Devi and Neenu Devi got 120 votes each. On this constituency, the winner was decided through toss. The toss went in favour of Pushpa Devi.

Some close finishes were witnessed in the Gram Pradhan polls. Till the filing of this report, 39 seats saw a win by a margin of one vote, whereas there were 129 seats were the winning margin was three or less votes.

The closest fights were witnessed in Pauri district, whereas as many as 16 gram Pradhan candidates won by one vote. Similarly, five candidates of Almora, four from Pithoragarh, one from Bageshwar, one from Naintal, three from Champawat, three from Tehri, four from Uttarkashi and two from Rudraprayag registered a win by a margin of three or less votes.

Political analyst Jay Singh Rawat said that the gram pradhan elections are interesting as more than the party, it is the image and reputation of an individual that matters. “The number of voters is limited and rebels make the election interesting. In both panchayat and urban local bodies election, Independent candidates win the maximum seat,” he added.