The Gujarat assembly on Tuesday night witnessed a high drama and confusion after two Congress MLAs allegedly showed their ballots to BJP chief Amit Shah before casting them in violation of rules.
The Election Commission rejected the votes of Bholabhai Gohil and Raghavjibhai Patel after viewing the video recording of the voting process, saying the two electors had "violated the voting procedure and secrecy of ballots."
Three delegations each of the Congress and BJP made a dash for 'Nirvachan Sadan', the EC headquarters, within a span of two hours, with the former demanding that the votes of Gohil and Patel be declared invalid, and the latter insisting that counting be taken up "immediately".
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The poll panel, finally, accepted the Congress's contention and asked the returning officer to reject the votes of its two MLAs and proceed with the counting.
Raghavjibhai Patel, 58, of Jamnagar rural, Gohil, 42, of Jasdan, were among the seven rebel MLAs, including Shankersinh Vaghela, who voted against the Congress.
Gohil belongs to the Koli community and holds a Bachelor’s degree in rural studies. He had earlier announced that he would not contest the upcoming assembly election and that he would be happy to see his mentor, Kunwarji Bavaliya make a comeback, reported The Indian Express.
According to the daily, Gohel was among the trusted confidantes of Bavaliya. For the first time in 2000, Gohel was elected to Jasdan taluka panchayat. He was re-elected to Jasdan taluka panchayat in 2005 and served as president of the panchayat till 2010. After that he purchased a Bolero car and started a petrol pump at Nava Gam vilage in partnership, his older brother Mansinh told The Indian Express.
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Interestingly, Gohil was not among the 10 Congress MLAs who taken to a resort in Rajkot owned by Congress MLA Indranil Rajyaguru on July 27 after the resignation the Shankersinh Vaghela. But he sneaked out of the resort and has been unreachable since even as other Saurashtra MLAs were flown to a Bengaluru resort next day.
He has total assets of 26.85 lakh.
Patel has been a five-time MLA, twice on a BJP ticket --he joined BJP in 1989 -- and quit it with Vaghela in 1995. He thinks Patidars are the game-changers in Gujarat elections, and was unhappy that the Congress did not cash in on their disgruntlement. He met Ahmed Patel thrice last year, seeking an overhaul in the party, and reportedly pitched himself as a contender for the Gujarat Congress chief’s post, the newspaper reported.
His total assets are worth Rs 4.66 crore.
(With PTI inputs)
