Banda rape victim loses gram pradhan election

She alleged that she could not gather more votes as her opponents had more money to spend.

Counting of votes for the panchayat polls in progress in Lucknow on Sunday. (Express Photo)

The 23-year-old rape victim from Banda who had contested for the post of gram pradhan (village head) from her gram panchayat Barkaula Kalan, lost the elections, the results of which were declared on Sunday.

The detailed results of the pradhan and gram panchayat elections from 74 districts in UP are likely to be disclosed by the State Election Commission on Monday.
The woman, who was raped by then BSP MLA Purushottam Dwivedi in December 2010, stood on fourth place with 152 votes.

She alleged that she could not gather more votes as her opponents had more money to spend.

Her village, Shahbazpur, is part of Barkaula Kalan gram panchayat of Banda district’s Naraini block. The seat she was contesting from had been reserved as an ‘OBC woman’ this time.

Meanwhile, the incumbent pradhan of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s ancestral village Saifai, Darshan Singh, was re-elected uncontested. Singh (80), who received the Yash Bharti award by the state government this year, has been the pradhan of Saifai since 1972.

Ved Prakash Verma, additional state election commissioner, said, “The results for all the elections for pradhans and gram panchayat members were declared by Sunday evening. The counting began at 7 am and it was over by 7 pm.” He added that no incidents of violence were reported during the counting.

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