Uttarakhand panchayat poll: Declared winner says rival got more votes; seeks recount

A panchayat poll candidate in Uttarakhand has informed the authorities that she was wrongly declared the winner and that her rival actually received more votes.

The incident took place during the election for the head of Tarkuli gram panchayat, which falls under Uttaralkhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami's assembly constituency, Champawat.

Kajal Bisht was declared the winner by the election officer and given the certificate of victory. However, she later said that her opponent, Sumit Kumar, had secured more votes.

"I told the election officer that I did not win the election, I lost. My opponent got three more votes than me, so the certificate should be given to the rightful winner," Bisht was quoted as saying by the news agency PTI.

According to the result, Bisht received 103 votes, while Sumit Kumar got 106.

When the matter was not resolved at the level of the election officer, Bisht filed a case in the court of Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Anurag Arya.

The SDM accepted the objection and directed the election officer to conduct a recount of the votes within 30 days. Officials said the date for the recount will be announced soon, as reported by PTI.