The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate from the Surat parliamentary constituency has been elected unopposed, after the nomination of some candidates was rejected and some voluntarily withdrew their candidature.
Mukesh Dalal’s unopposed victory was announced on Monday, April 22, the final day for the withdrawal of nominations. Bahujan Samaj Party’s Pyarelal Bharati was the last one to withdraw his candidature.
The candidature of Nilesh Kumbhani, the Congress candidate from the seat, was declined on Sunday, April 21, after the district returning officer prima facie found discrepancies in the signature of the proposers. Soon after, the Congress fielded another candidate, Suresh Padsala, but even his candidature was declined.
Returning officer Sourabh Pardhi told Hindustan Times that the four nomination forms submitted by Kumbhani and Padsala were rejected after prima facie, discrepancies were found in the signatures of the proposers, and they did not appear genuine. The proposers, in their affidavits, said that they had not signed the forms themselves, according to Pardhi’s order.
“As all the eight candidates who had successfully filed their nomination for the Surat Lok Sabha seat have withdrawn their candidature, Dalal has been elected unopposed. We will soon announce his win,” Pardhi said.
Gujarat will vote in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections on May 7. The nomination filing for the state was held from April 15 to April 19 with April 22 being the last date for withdrawing candidature.
Gujarat BJP chief C.R. Paatil congratulated Dalal. “Surat has offered the first lotus to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Congratulations to Surat Lok Sabha candidate Mukeshbhai Dalal for being elected unopposed,” Paatil wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Meanwhile, Gujarat Congress chief Shaktisinh Gohil alleged that the rejection of the party’s candidate’s nomination form for the Surat Lok Sabha constituency was “orchestrated by the BJP”.
Congress party’s communications chief Jairam accused the BJP of “match-fix” in Surat. “The distress and anger faced by MSME owners and businesspeople in Modi’s Anyay Kaal has spooked the BJP so badly that they are attempting to “match-fix” Surat Lok Sabha, which they have won consistently since 1984 Lok Sabha elections!”