LARKANA: Kalpana Devi aka Leela won a legal battle a couple of days ago against the District Hindu Panchayat’s decision to bar her from contesting polls but faced defeat in primary elections held at a local temple on Friday night, ejecting her out of the race for the office of chairperson.

Ms Kalpana had earlier remained chairperson of the Panchayat for three years. She moved the Larkana circuit bench of the Sindh High Court after her nomination papers were rejected on the grounds that the Panchayat’s constitution did not allow a woman to run for any office.

The court overruled the Panchayat decision and allowed her to run for any office on Wednesday after extending polls to April 29.

There were 12 candidates in the race for eight seats and out of total registered votes of 283 in the area where Kalpana Devi contested, 212 votes were polled and seven were rejected on different grounds, Panchayat election commissioner Dr Lakhmi Chand told Dawn on Saturday.

Finally, Mukesh Kumar (173 votes), Dr Ashok Kumar (171), Dr Wali Ram (166), Rai Raj (165), Ramesh Kumar (158), Sri Chand (139), Ajeet Kumar (134) and Viji Kumar (132) won their respective seats while Ms Kalpana suffered defeat by securing only 115 votes, he said.

The process of primary polls would be completed by Sunday (May 1st), he said, adding that initially, 30 members would be elected who would later vote to elect Panchayat’s office-bearers. The executive body would consist of seven members, said the election commissioner.

The constitution allowed three months time to complete the process but normally office-bearers were elected within a fortnight or a month after completion of the primary polls exercise, he said.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2016