Bhatkal: In a shocking defeat to Tanzeem-backed candidate Imran Lanka, Abdul Rahim won the post of president of Jali pattan panchayat by three votes. The election was held on Thursday, 29th of September.
Among 20 members of Jali Pattan Panchayat, 11 were Tanzeem-backed members. The Tanzeem also expected to get 3 votes from congress and 1 vote from independent candidate. But the election results brought a blow to Tanzeem as rebel candidate Abdul Rahim got 5 votes from Congress, 1 vote from BJP and 1 independent candidate vote. Also 2 Tanzeem-backed members cast their votes in favor of Abdur Rahim, which totaled to 10 votes, whereas, Imran Lanka received only 7 votes. Unfortunately Bilal Qamri was not able to vote as he arrived ten minutes late to the election due to personal reasons. During the election, 2 BJP members were also absent. MLA Mankal Vaidya did not utilize his voting right even though he was present during the election.
The three candidates Abdul Rahim, Imran Lanka and Congress-backed member Nagraj Naik had submitted their nomination papers to contest the president election. Similarly, Congress member Laxmi Madhav Naik and Tanzeem backed-candidate Shameem Banu had filed their nominations for the Vice President’s post. Later Nagraj Naik and Shameem Banu took back their nomination papers. So the election was conducted between Abdul Rahim and Imran Lanka and Abdul Rahim was elected as first president of Jali patan panchayat, whereas, Laxmi Madhav Naik was elected as vice president unopposed.
The election result raised several questions among people as to why Abdul Rahim contested the election opposing the Tanzeem-backed candidate. Also, how did Abdul Rahim manage to get the votes of Congress, BJP, the independent members and even the votes of two Tanzeem-backed members? Also, how the Tanzeem-backed candidate failed to get the complete votes from all the Tanzeem-backed members. The questions remain unanswered for now.