3 Bathinda villages elect sarpanches by wafer-thin margin

The panchayat poll in three Bathinda villages concluded with a wafer-thin margin — each candidate winning the post of sarpanch by just one vote each. The tight finish has put forth the importance of every single vote to elect the right candidate.

At Bhokra village, Sukhpreet Kaur polled 702 votes, while her rival Parminder Kaur bagged 701 votes. At Golewala village, Lakhvir Singh secured 340 votes, while Kewal Singh got 339 votes. The contest was equally intense at Ghareli village, where Manjit Singh polled 246 votes and his rival Kewal bagged 245 votes.

The officials confirmed the results after multiple recounts in all three villages. “It just shows that every vote matters,” said an official of the State Election Commission. On the one hand, supporters of winning candidates celebrated the win, and on other, those who narrowly missed out accepted the outcome with a heavy heart.

Several other villages also witnessed a close fight in the district. At Ganga village, Veerpal Kaur won by a margin of two votes. While Sukhpal Kaur from Kuttiwal Khurd won by a margin of four votes, Harpreet Kaur from Bhai Harjoginder Singh Nagar village was declared victorious by five votes.

Similalry, Jaswant Preet from Kothe Mandi Kalan won with seven votes and Jaswant Kaur of Talab Basti village became victorious with eight votes.