By-Poll Snippets 8212; Vadodara

Young voters
Though there were hardly any flags, posters or loudspeakers, children and teenagers seemed to enjoy the elections. They played kabbadi on the party office mats at different offices in the night preceding voting and on poll day, managed to cast votes and feel thrilled.

Deposits to go
Of the nine candidates, the six Independents were Shashikant Patel arrow, Salim Pathan bat, Abdul Gani aeroplane, Dinesh Vasava hut, Bechubhai Vasava axe and Sayyed Mohammed Syed tree. All are likely to lose their deposits.

Morale down
Some Congress and BJP men had their own set of complaints. 8220;Apart from AICC treasurer Ahmed Patel, not a single heavyweight came to boost our morale8221;, said a local Congressman. The BJP workers echoed similar feelings and even described Surat8217;s Kashiram Rana as sthanik or local8217; neta8221;.

Issues galore
It was an unusual election. No candidate spoke of issues related to Gujarat or the constituency. Corruption, communalism and criminalisation of politics dominated the polls. Local issues were non-existent.