BJP’s 1st win: Mukesh Dalal Secures Surat Lok Sabha Seat
The candidate from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Mukesh Dalal, emerged victorious uncontested in the election for the Surat Lok Sabha constituency in Gujarat, as all other candidates opted to withdraw their candidatures.
The recent development follows the cancellation of nominations for two Congress candidates on Sunday, as well as the withdrawal of candidature by eight other candidates on Monday.
The state of Gujarat is scheduled to hold elections on May 7. Gujarat BJP chief CR Paatil has confirmed this development and shared congratulatory messages for Dalal.
Paatil announced on social media platform X that Surat has elected Mukesh bhai Dalal unopposed as their Lok Sabha candidate, offering the first lotus to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
According to the Returning Officer Sourabh Pardhi, all eight candidates who had submitted their nominations for the Surat Lok Sabha seat have withdrawn, leading to Dalal’s uncontested victory. Pardhi mentioned that the final candidate to withdraw, Pyarelal Bharati from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), did so around 2pm today.
It is expected that Dalal’s win will be officially announced soon.
The nomination filing period for Gujarat, scheduled for the third phase of elections, took place from April 15 to April 19, with April 22 set as the deadline for withdrawing candidature.
The Congress party suffered a setback when Nilesh Kumbhani’s candidacy for the Surat Lok Sabha seat was rejected on Sunday due to discrepancies in the signature of the proposers. Subsequently, Suresh Padsala, the substitute candidate for the Congress in Surat, also had his nomination form rejected on the same day. Therefore, the main opposition party in Gujarat was unable to participate in the Lok Sabha election in the city.
The district returning officer, Pardhi, explained that the rejection of the four nomination forms submitted by Kumbhani and Padsala was based on prima facie evidence of discrepancies in the signatures of the proposers, which appeared to be not genuine. The proposers themselves stated in their affidavits that they had not signed the forms, as per Pardhi’s order.
On Saturday, Dinesh Jodhani, the election agent of BJP candidate Dalal, raised objections to the nomination forms, leading the returning officer to grant the Congress candidate an extension until Sunday morning to present their case.
After carefully reviewing the affidavits from the proposers and other evidence, the returning officer decided to reject the nomination forms. They ensured that the proposers’ identities were verified and that they were not under any form of pressure, in accordance with the specified instructions. Additionally, the video footage requested by the Congress candidate’s lawyer failed to demonstrate the presence of the signatories, as outlined in the instructions.
The Gujarat Congress chief, Shaktisinh Gohil, alleged that the rejection of the party’s candidate’s nomination form for the Surat Lok Sabha constituency was a deliberate maneuver by the BJP to maintain their position. He claimed that the BJP is apprehensive about the possibility of losing in the upcoming elections.
