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ShareAhmedabad: Senior Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela has challenged the election result of the Panchmahals constituency, from where he was defeated by BJP candidate Prabhatsinh Chauhan by 2,069 votes. His petition filed in the Gujarat high court is likely to come up for hearing on Monday.
Among the several issues that Vaghela raised in his petition was that of Chauhan hiding details of his marriages to three women. He further accused the election officer of not acting properly on his demand for a recount and re-poll.
Vaghela contested the recent Lok Sabha election from the Panchmahals constituency after the Kapadvanj constituency, from where he had won two previous elections, was dissolved in the delimitation process. Vaghela's defeat from the Panchmahals constituency was considered a big victory in BJP circles as the former Union textiles minister was a strong critic of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. Vaghela had defected to the Congress from the BJP after rebelling against former chief minister of Gujarat, Keshubhai Patel.
In his petition, Vaghela mentioned details of Chauhan's family according to the voters' list of Mehlolni Muvadi village in the Panchmahals constituency, in which the BJP leader was listed in index number 402 of volume eight as the head of his family. The next entry, number 403, names the late Rupaliben Chauhan as his wife.
However, the following two names of the list are of Ramilaben Chauhan and Lilaben Chauhan - both listed as Prabhatsinh Chauhan's wife. Since Rupaliben was deceased, Ramilaben was mentioned as Chauhan's wife in his affidavit filed before the election commission. Also, details of property in her name were declared during the filing of Chauhan's nomination papers. There was no mention of Lilaben before the election commission, Vaghela said in his petition.
Vaghela further alleged that his applications seeking a re-poll and recounting in all booths in the constituency forwarded to the election commission should have been disposed off before the results were declared. However, his applications were dismissed on grounds that the election process was conducted properly and that the result was already declared. Vaghela then moved the application alleging irregularities at some booths.
Earlier, Devusinh Chauhan, the BJP candidate from the Kheda constituency, had challenged the election result in the Gujarat high court after his defeat to Dinsha Patel of the Congress by a narrow margin. The petition was later withdrawn on grounds that some corrections were to be made to it and for the filing of a fresh petition.
