Fresh twist in Anand panchayat president row: BJP seat under cloud after Gujarat High Court petition withdrawn

4 min readVadodaraJun 16, 2026 10:00 PM IST

Mayuri Patel, a BJP member elected from the general-category Sarsa seat, had approached the High Court on May 24. (Photo: Instagram/mayuripatelbjp | Enhanced using AI)

The BJP’s dramatic last-minute victory in the election for the Anand District Panchayat president’s post on May 24 – secured after the Gujarat High Court revived party’s lone ST candidate Mayuri Patel’s nomination just hours before voting — has now been thrown into uncertainty after she withdrew the very petition that enabled her to contest on Tuesday.

The Gujarat High Court allowed the withdrawal of the petition and vacated the interim relief granted on May 24, reviving Congress hopes that Patel may have to relinquish the ST woman-reserved post and setting the stage for a fresh legal battle over the politically significant office.

Patel, a BJP member elected from the general-category Sarsa seat, had approached the High Court on May 24 after election authorities rejected her nomination for the president’s post on the ground that her Scheduled Tribe certificate had been issued in Maharashtra, not Gujarat. Justice R T Vachhani had then granted interim relief, observing that Patel belonged to the Bhil community, which is notified as a Scheduled Tribe in both Gujarat and Maharashtra under Presidential Orders issued under Article 342(1) of the Constitution. The order effectively revived her candidature and enabled her to contest the election held on May 24, in which the BJP retained the president’s post despite the Congress briefly sensing an upset.

The controversy had erupted after the Returning Officer and Anand District Development Officer rejected Patel’s nomination under the Gujarat Taluka and District Panchayat Election of President and Vice President Rules, 1994, holding that caste certificates issued outside Gujarat are not valid for reserved-category local body posts.

At the time, the rejection had temporarily shifted the advantage to Congress candidate Gauri Shambhu Tadvi, elected from the ST-reserved Hadgud seat. With Tadvi’s nomination, the only valid one remaining, Congress leaders anticipated an unopposed victory despite the BJP enjoying an overwhelming 33-7 majority in the 40-member district panchayat. However, the High Court relief altered the course of the election, giving BJP a last-minute respite.

Congress candidate Gauri Shambhu Tadvi raised objections before the High Court against Patel’s withdrawal of petition, contending that it would effectively mean that Patel must vacate the office of president as the legal basis on which Patel “contested the election no longer survives”. Justice Nikhil Kariel, on Tuesday, dictated the oral order, in which the interim relief granted to Patel was vacated.

Advocate I H Syed, representing Tadvi, told The Indian Express, “The officer of the district administration must take note of this withdrawal of petition and by law, act to ensure that the petitioner vacates the seat of the president. If not, then we will take legal recourse challenging the same.”

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The development could potentially reopen a politically sensitive contest in Anand district, a region in Gujarat’s influential Charotar belt where cooperative institutions, rural electoral networks and Patidar politics carry much significance. For the ruling BJP, which has consolidated control over local bodies and cooperative institutions in the district in recent years, including the politically symbolic Amul dairy, retaining the district panchayat presidency is critical ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections.

BJP Anand district president Sanjay Patel was unreachable for comments. A senior Congress leader said that the party would issue a comment after looking at the court order and the legal options. Officials of the district administration refused to comment as “the order had not reached” them.

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Aditi Raja is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express, stationed in Vadodara, Gujarat, with over 20 years in the field. She has been reporting from the region of Central Gujarat and Narmada district for this newspaper since 2013, which establishes her as a highly Authoritative and Trustworthy source on regional politics, administration, and critical socio-economic and environmental issues.

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