VADODARA, Sept 5: Even on election day, the Congress party - which was barely able to finalise its candidate for the Vadodara Lok Sabha seat in time to beat the nomination deadline - found itself riddled with factionalism.Party workers admitted that had they been able to pose a united face, voter turnout would have been higher.A senior Congress councillor admitted, ``We could not manage the slums last night.'' The party lacked an active youth brigade, which is the BJP's strength, he added.Satyajit Gaekwad, whom Dr Urmilaben Patel beat in the ticket race, was seen openly claiming that his party had failed to capitalise on the incumbency factor. Another leader claimed that had Gaekwad been in the fray, the party would have emerged victorious by a margin of at least 15,000 votes.Meanwhile, low polling notwithstanding, both the BJP and the Congress claimed their candidate would win. They also complained of bogus voting and harassment of party workers.The BJP's main convener, Bharat Khode, told Express Newsline that low voter turnout would not affect Jayaben Thakkar's prospects. He claimed that the Congress' failure in getting its committed voters to vote would benefit the BJP.Thakkar claimed her victory margin would increase.Vadodara Congress president Ashwin Shah claimed Congress supporters had come out in large numbers to vote while the BJP's frustrated voters kept away. Low polling would not affect Dr Patel's prospects, he claimed.Patel claimed that low polling percentages around housing societies would adversely affect the BJP, and the relatively higher polling in the lower economic strata of society would benefit the Congress.Shah said polling was low all over Gujarat. ``It is the BJP voter who has not come out to vote,'' he claimed.Khode blamed the low turnout on faulty electoral rolls. He claimed that as addresses were not complete and names incorrect, party workers had a difficult time distributing voters' slips. ``The city voter was not interested in voting,'' he said.
