Vadodara: In a bizarre twist to Dahod’s district panchayat polls, a single candidate has managed to appear on the ballot thrice — each time representing a different political party, leaving officials both puzzled and amused.Bharatsinh Vakhala submitted his candidature from the BJP, Congress and AAP for the Pipero district panchayat seat, along with mandates from all three parties, surprising election officials.Vakhala switched parties in the past. He contested the 2017 assembly polls from Devgadh Baria on a Congress ticket and the 2022 elections from the same seat on an AAP ticket, losing both times.He filed three sets of nomination papers — one on Friday and two on Saturday. The unusual move came to light when the updated list of nominations was released on Saturday.An election officer confirmed that Vakhala had submitted mandates from all three parties. “Even we were surprised to see three different mandates from the same candidate,” the officer said.While BJP and Congress have also fielded dummy candidates for the seat, Vakhala is the only AAP nominee. In all, 11 nominations have been filed for the seat, including his three entries.
