A Gujarat man who ran for a decision-making position in his village during last month’s local elections made international headlines for receiving just one vote despite having at least two dozen family members eligible to cast a ballot.

Santosh Halpati ran for the position of Sarpanch in the Chharwala village of Vapi district, and even though he wasn’t really expecting to win, he certainly didn’t expect to receive just one vote, his. The middle-aged man broke down near the counting center when he heard the news, telling reporters that he had 12 close family members who were eligible to vote but either didn’t bother to cast a ballot or chose to vote for someone else.

“Elections come and go,” Santosh was quoted as saying by Times Now. “But I got just one vote.. even my family did not vote for me.”

Interestingly, a similar case occurred a couple of years ago, when an independent candidate from the Indian state of Punjab famously broke into tears while telling a reporter that he only received 5 votes despite having 9 family members eligible to vote.

 

Santosh’s case was even more painful, as he didn’t receive a single vote other than his own, even though he claims several people assured him of their votes. In case you needed more proof that politics is a dirty game, here ya go!