The Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation building at the state capital. (Express Photo by Javed Raja) The Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation building at the state capital. (Express Photo by Javed Raja)

With the Congress and BJP both winning 14 seats each in the 28-member Pardi Municipality in Valsad district, a lucky draw through chits on Monday decided on who will be the president and vice-president of the civic body. The Congress and the BJP will now share power with each party ruling the civic body for two-and-a-half years, as per the laid down rules.

While BJP’s Falguni Bhatt was chosen as the president in the lucky draw, Congress’s Bipin Patel was selected vice-president. “The term of president and vice-president will be of two-and-a-half years. For the first two- and-a-half years, BJP will rule the municipality, and the remaining two-and-a-half-years, Congress will rule it,” Pardi Municipality Chief Officer G J Gamit told The Indian Express.

After the results were declared on February 19, both the BJP and the Congress had moved their elected members outside Valsad over fear of being poached by their opponents. On Monday, a week after the results, the general meeting of the municipality was convened by Additional Collector I G Mali to elect the new president and vice-president.

While the BJP had put forward names of Falguni Bhatt and Rajesh Patel for the post of president and vice-president, respectively, the Congress nominated Meera Bharatiya for president and Bipin Patel for vice-president.

All the 28 elected members were told to cast their votes, which again resulted in a tie. Following which, Mali conducted a lucky draw to choose the new office bearers.

For the presidential contest, Mali put the names of Falguni and Meeraben on two different chits and told Chief Officer Gamit to pick one chit. Similarly, for the post of vice-president names of Rajesh and Bipin were written on chits, and Mamlatdar H A Patel was asked to pick the chit. In the process, names of Falguni Bhatt and Bipin Patel were chosen. “The entire procedure took place peacefully and leaders of both the political parties agreed on the decision,” said Gamit.

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