Bhopal, July 4: Authorities were left in a dilemma after a dead man won the sarpanch polls in a village in Madhya Pradesh's Sagar district.

Ravindra Thakur, one of the candidates for the sarpanch post in Kajera village in Deori tehsil, had died of a cardiac arrest on June 22, but his name continued to be on the ballot paper for the July 1 poll as the information was not relayed to authorities, an official said.

"If we are informed about a candidate's death up to 72 hours before the polls, then we print fresh ballot papers. In this case, we were informed when the polling party had left (the village)," Sagar Collector and District Returning Officer Deepak Arya told PTI.

"We have sought the opinion of the state election commission. The issue will be resolved before the official announcement of polls on July 14. Mostly by tomorrow. The counting had taken place on the day of voting itself," Arya said on Monday. Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Poll 2022: Mukesh Darbar, Candidate for Sarpanch’s Post, Booked for Using Dog for Campaigning in Khandwa

The village has 1,296 eligible voters, of which 1,043 exercised their franchise, local officials said.

Thakur polled 512 votes, while rivals Chandrabhan Ahirwar and Vinod Singh got 257 and 153 votes respectively, leaving the dead man a winner by a margin of 255 votes.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)