6 min readVadodaraUpdated: Apr 12, 2026 08:52 AM IST
Haryana civic polls 2026 are scheduled for May 10 across seven municipal bodies, including Panchkula, Ambala and Sonipat, with nominations from April 21 to 25 and counting on May 13.(File Photo)
The BJP felt an early-morning jolt Saturday, the last day of filing nominations when it found the name of one of its candidates from Vadodara city, missing from the electoral rolls, thus disqualifying him from contesting.
Raag Machhar, who was nominated for Ward no. 1 of Vadodara city, did not find his name in the revised electoral rolls issued by the State Election Commission, which conducts the local body polls. The BJP had to then rush to field a fresh candidate within minutes, and, thus, Bhursinh Rathwa—a resident of Ward no. 16—filed his papers in the place of Machhar.
Senior party leaders called it “shocking” that Machhar’s name was missing from the electoral roll. A senior party leader said, “That Machhar’s name was missing from the local body voter list came to our nRotice late night on Friday. We communicated the same to the party. His name featured on the electoral roll of the assembly constituency that was issued following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise on February 17 by the Election Commission. However, the name has been excluded from the roll of the local body elections… We are looking into the issue. At that moment, there was nothing we could do except field another candidate. It was the decision of the parliamentary board of the party. The party has also taken a serious note of this lapse… the candidate (Machhar) did not know that his name had been excluded from the voter list for the local body polls. It is unfortunate that such a thing happened.”
Meanwhile, a last-minute rush was seen at the district collector’s office as candidates of the BJP, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), as well as rebel and independent candidates, dashed to fill their nomination forms for the April 26 local body polls on Saturday, when the deadline for the same ended.
The Vadodara unit of the Congress—which pulled a surprise by fielding three women from Ward no. 1—is facing a rebellion there with outgoing corporator Harish Patel filing his papers as an independent after being left out. This marked a departure from the Congress’s usual practice. Among the three women two are outgoing corporators: Pushpsa Vaghela for the general woman seat and Ami Ravat from the general seat (which is usually allocated to male candidates). The party has fielded Sona Jaha Desai, the wife of outgoing corporator Jaha Desai, to fill up the reserved OBC woman seat in the Ward while the reserved ST Seat has been filled by Nikul Patel.
Harish Patel, known to be a close aide of BJP Viramgam MLA Hardik Patel, expressed his “displeasure” over his exclusion. He blamed the Congress brass for “handing out tickets to undeserving candidates” and said: “The list was released at 1 am last night because the party was aware that the act of fielding three women from one ward is an unjustified move. I have been working for the people throughout my term of five years. So, I am sure people will vote for me regardless of my disassociation with the Congress party… (Senior Congress leaders) are to blame for this as they only distribute tickets to those who silently follow orders.”
Suspended BJP corporator Ashish Joshi, who recently joined the Congress, along with his BJP colleague from Ward 15 Parul Patel, social activist Swejal Vyas and two daughters of seven-term BJP MLA Madhu Shrivastava filed their nominations from the Congress on Saturday. Madhu’s cousin and veteran Congress leader Chandrakant Shrivastava also filed his nomination from Ward 16 for the sixth consecutive time.
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In Ward 6, a drama unfolded when the Vadodara Detection of Crime Branch swooped in to detain Prabhu Solanki, the husband of Congress candidate Parvati Solanki, in an alleged FIR against him in Haryana. As per sources, Solanki was picked to be handed over to the Haryana police, which had arrived in Vadodara to arrest him on Saturday. Parvati, who reached the Vadodara Crime Branch Office, said that the police had “forcibly taken away her husband”.
Senior police officials of Vadodara city said the alleged case lodged in Haryana pertained to “cheating” and “smuggling of fake gold”.
‘Reel vs. Reality’
In Por district panchayat, the BJP witnessed a rebellion from disgruntled leader Nayana Parmar, who arrived at the office of the ‘mamlatdar’, sporting a BJP scarf to file her independent nominations. Nayana has been vocally expressing her disappointment since the BJP announced former taluka panchayat president and social media influencer Ankita Parmar as a candidate from the Por seat.
Speaking after filing her nomination, Nayana said, “Like a true foot soldier of the BJP, I have worked so much to help beneficiaries… People recognise me due to my work. Ankita already has so many posts in the party, including a party post in the Yuva Morcha… How come the party has deviated from its own policy of one post per person and chosen her for multiple things…. Today, I wore a BJP scarf for filing my nomination as I am not against the party, but I have a problem with her. I do not want to name anyone, but I know there are people behind her selection… It is now for the public to decide whether they want ‘reel’ or reality. Ankita is ‘reel’ and I am real.”
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In response, Ankita, who filed her nomination on the BJP mandate, said, “The party has given me such a big responsibility. It must be because they trust me. I am also prepared to work for the party to ensure its victory…. During such a big election, there are likely to be people who are unhappy. I want to tell them that I understand their disappointment, and it will remain my endeavour to win them over and include them in the journey of development of the area.”
Aditi Raja is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express, stationed in Vadodara, Gujarat, with over 20 years in the field. She has been reporting from the region of Central Gujarat and Narmada district for this newspaper since 2013, which establishes her as a highly Authoritative and Trustworthy source on regional politics, administration, and critical socio-economic and environmental issues.
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