There weren't too many contestants for the five-member panchayat -- just seven in all -- but enough to show that democracy can flourish even the shackles are physical.

The contestants, who canvassed from barrack to barrack, didn't have the resources -- time and money -- their counterparts in the free world do; all they had, officially, was a few hours in which to make promises of better services and assistance to fellow convicts. The canvassing came to a close at noon, four hours before the polling started.

The atmosphere in Lohia block resembled that of a polling booth during assembly and parliamentary elections in all respects except that pollsters here were wearing khadi uniforms and Gandhi caps.

There was only one polling booth, with two counters where tokens were issued to voters in place of ballot papers. Where other elections have one ballot box for all ballot papers, this booth had seven earthen pots, one for each contestant. The voter had to pick up a token and drop it into the pot displaying the symbol of the contestant of his choice. Simple as that.

When the votes were tallied, Moonjiben, a murder convict and serving a life term, was elected unopposed in the women's barrack, while Vicky alias Anwar Hussain, sentenced to life imprisonment in the infamous Dinesh Pathak murder case, got the most votes in elections to the male panchayat.

Other winners were Babubhai Manubhai, with a torch as the election symbol, Shankarbhai with a lotus symbol, Raisinhbhai Dalabhai Parmar with cow and calf and Rasik Ramsinh Rana with a palm.

Results out, there were no victory rallies, no `gulaal', no elaborate celebrations. The convicts celebrated the victory of their candidates by lifting them on their shoulders and distributing sweets and biscuits among themselves. They even presented bouquets to jail superintendent R Meena and his deputy A B Makwana.

Raisinhbhai, serving a life term in the jail for the past 10 years on a murder conviction, has been elected every year for the past five years. His USP? The constituency profile: A large number of the prisoners were from Panchmahals, his home district. His promises were simple; asked what kind of assistance he offered to prisoners as well as jail authorities, the Raisinhbhai said he usually approached the authorities when a prisoner wanted leave for urgent personal reasons.

Shankarbhai Raval from Kheda, who's also serving life term for murder, said he looked after the affairs of the mess. His constituency was the prisoners from Kheda, Anand and other districts. Both Parmar and Raval were paid Rs 14 per day for carrying out the duties of a sevak, which is equivalent to the wages paid to a skilled worker in jail industries.