3 min readVadodaraJul 29, 2026 05:40 AM IST
After months of political upheaval, defections, disqualification of elected representatives and a last-minute legal reprieve from the Gujarat High Court, voting for the six vacant seats of the Devgadh Baria Municipality concluded peacefully on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, polling for panchayat by-elections in Chikhlod of Kheda district and the Palaj District Panchayat seat in Anand district was also held.
Polling for the six vacant seats in Devgadh Baria Municipality was held in three wards under tight security arrangements. The district administration deployed police personnel at all 10 polling stations to ensure free and fair voting, while election officials monitored the process throughout the day.
The by-election was necessitated after six BJP councillors were suspended for alleged anti-party activities.
As many as 7,406 voters were eligible to decide the political fate of candidates. Ward No. 1 witnessed a triangular contest between the BJP, the AAP, and an independent candidate. In Ward No. 4, the BJP and the AAP were locked in a direct fight for two seats, while Ward No. 5 saw a straight contest between the BJP and the Congress for three seats.
On Monday, the Gujarat High Court set aside an interim order by a single judge that had stayed polling on two of the six seats, clearing the way for Tuesday’s voting.
The underlying challenge to the disqualification of six councillors, however, remains pending before the High Court, with the matter scheduled for final hearing on August 10.
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The political dispute began in October last year when a no-confidence motion was moved against the BJP-ruled municipality president Dharmendra Kalal within seven months of his election. The High Court had earlier ruled that the motion violated the Gujarat Municipalities Act, quashed the subsequent election of another president, which restored Kalal to office in December 2025. The disqualification of six councillors by the competent authority on May 18, 2026, subsequently triggered the present by-elections.
Meanwhile, polling was also conducted for the vacant Chikhlod seat of the newly formed Phagvel Taluka Panchayat.
The by-election assumed significance as villagers had boycotted the general election in protest against the state government’s decision to carve Chikhlod out of Kapadvanj taluka and merge it into the newly created Phagvel taluka.
Voting was held from 7 am to 6 pm at three polling stations–two in Chikhlod and one in Kapdivav, for 2,385 eligible voters. Following the withdrawal of an independent candidate, the contest narrowed to a direct fight between the BJP’s Hiral Rathod and the Congress’s Sonal Parmar.
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In Anand district, polling for the vacant Palaj District Panchayat seat in Petlad taluka recorded a relatively low turnout during the day but ended with a total voter turnout of 58.91% despite the contest emerging as a prestige battle for the ruling BJP.
The Congress also mounted an intensive campaign, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) made the contest a triangular one.
The seat had fallen vacant after BJP member Pradeep Patel, who was elected from Palaj (Seat No. 27) in the previous district panchayat election, resigned.
In the last Anand District Panchayat election, the BJP secured a comfortable majority by winning 33 of the 40 seats, while the Congress won seven.
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