In 2021, the BJP had won 18, and the Congress five seats in Dharampur. One seat was won by independent candidate Kalpesh Patel, the current winning independent candidate’s husband. Over the last two and a half years, Piyush Mahala headed the taluka panchayat as the president. In Valsad district’s Dharampur, it is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that is apprehensive of ‘horse trading’. In the 24-seat taluka panchayat, while the BJP is above the halfway mark with 13 seats, the Congress has improved its tally to 10 after the April 26 elections. One other seat was won by independent candidate Sunita Kalpesh Patel, who has offered her support to the Congress, it was learnt. To avoid the party’s winning candidates from being ‘poached’, the BJP’s Dharmpur MLA Arvind Patel has moved them to Gandhinagar . Family members of all the 13 individuals had been informed that they were safe in Gandhinagar, the MLA said. Speaking to The Indian Express, Patel said: “All 13 BJP winning candidates are with us in Gandhinagar.…