Boost to BJP ahead of Baroda Dairy polls: 3 candidates set to win uncontested

Election Officer Aishwarya Dubey said, “We had received a total of 55 forms for 13 positions in the Baroda Dairy Board of Directors. The scrutiny of nomination forms was carried out on February 28 with 31 forms being accepted and 24 forms being rejected. All the accepted candidates can withdraw their candidature until March 7, after which the list of uncontested winners will be clear. We will announce which seats have been won uncontested on March 9.”

As per sources within the BJP, hectic lobbying is on to have more candidates become ‘uncontested winners’ by March 7, which is the last date of the withdrawal of forms for the election. Speaking to the media, Dinesh Patel claimed that two other seats were also “set to be won uncontested”. Patel said, “During the last polls too, these six seats were won uncontested. We were confident that we would win these seats uncontested… Our board has been working since 2012 for the betterment of the milk producers… Even if it were to be a contest, we were prepared as we have the trust of the milk producers. The result would have not been any different even if the contest would have taken place on March 18.”

Dinesh Patel has been the Chairman of the Dairy, which is Vadodara largest cooperative, since 2014, barring a few months in 2023, when he had resigned from the post after being suspended from the BJP due to his rebellion in the 2022 Assembly polls, where had unsuccessfully contested as an independent candidate.

Patel was inducted back into the BJP in September 2023 and in November 2023, he was ‘re-elected’ as chairman of the Dairy.