With two sacks of Re 1 coins worth Rs 10,000, an Independent files nomination from Gandhinagar (North)

Labourer Mahendrabhai Patni’s home was demolished as part of a government project; says yet to receive compensation, tired of living conditions

Mahendrabhai Patni at his house in Gandhinagar. (Express Photo by Avinash Nair)

Unhappy with his living conditions in Gujarat’s capital Gandhinagar, Mahendrabhai Patni, a labourer, 35, filed his nomination as an Independent from the Gandhinagar North seat. He had carried two sacks of Re 1 coins to file his nomination fee of Rs 10,000 at the Election Commission office.

Asked why he collected the coins, Patni said: “I am a labourer without steady employment. We do not have a house, access to drinking water, or electricity. Families in my neighbourhood agreed to support me as I do not have enough resources to file a deposit. I spent three days collecting the coins from people who promised to vote for me.”

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Patni said his house was among the 521 huts that were demolished by the government to build The Leela, a five-star-hotel, and to revamp the Gandhinagar Railway Station in the city. “We continue to live in the slums without basic amenities, “ said Patni, claiming that no compensation has been given by the state government yet. He now stays in Gokulpura Vasahat located across the road from the security cabin of the hotel.

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After studying till the seventh standard at his native village in the Patan district, Patni moved to Gandhinagar in 1999.

“We initially lived in the slums where the Salt Mound (Dandi Kutir) stands today. We then moved to the rear of the Gandhinagar Railway Station in 2010,” Patni said.

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The Gandhinagar Railway Station was reconstructed by the Gandhinagar Railway and Urban Development Corporation Limited (GARUD), a joint venture of the Government of Gujarat and the Indian Railway State Development Corporation. The Leela hotel construction was part of the project. Government officials told The Indian Express that “the hutments had to be removed as they stood on land belonging to the Indian Railways.”

Patni is among the 28 candidates who have filed nominations from Gandhinagar North. The constituency polls in the second phase of the state elections to be held on December 5.

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Patni’s affidavit has zero assets and no bank account details. “I opened a zero-balance bank account with Bank of Baroda only on November 14 because it was necessary for election purposes,” he said.

Patni lives with his parents, wife and two daughters in a modest kaccha house with few household items and a 12-volt battery that powers an LED bulb at night. He is a Below Poverty Line (BPL) card holder – one among the 31.56 lakh families in the category in the state as on August 2021.

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Patni, however, is not the only candidate to have filed his nomination using Rs one coins. An AAP candidate from the Sayaligunj seat in Vadodara, a wedding planner named Swejal Vyas, also took a sack full of coins to file his nomination.

Vyas said: “When I stood as a candidate for polls, people began asking me what they can do for me. I asked them to give me Rs one as their blessing for deposit. I had collected most of the money through Google Pay and the response was overwhelming. The entire amount was collected in just three hours.” Vyas’s affidavit shows Rs 2.5 lakh in cash and a house worth Rs 55 lakh.