Ahmedabad, Jan 13 (PTI) A Congress candidate who lostthe 2017 state Assembly elections has approached the GujaratHigh Court challenging the invalidation of around 400 postalballots which he claimed led to his defeat by a narrow margin.
Ashvin Rathod, who contested as a Congress candidatefrom Dholka Assembly constituency against BJP heavyweight andcabinet minister Bhupendrsinh Chudasama, moved a petition inthe High Court against the decision by the election officer toinvalidate around 400 postal ballots.
Rathod has said in his petition that he was defeatedby a thin margin of 327 votes, which could have been reversedhad the postal ballot been counted as he was confident ofgetting 90 per cent of these votes.
The petitioner had managed to garner 71,203 votes,while his nearest rival and winning candidate Chudasamamanaged to get 71,530 votes, a victory margin of 327 votes.
He prayed for the court's directions to theauthorities to hold the postal ballots as valid and ordercounting of these votes. He added that no valid reason wasgiven behind the decision to invalidate these votes.
He has made all the 13 candidates who contested fomDholka constituency and the Election Commission and returningofficer as respondents in the case which is likely to come upfor hearing next week.
Chusdasama is a cabinet minister with the portfoliosof education, law and justice, legislative and parliamentaryaffairs, among others in the new BJP government. PTI KA PDBNM.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.