The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won the Surat Lok Sabha constituency without facing any opposition. The cancellation of Congress candidate Nilesh Kumbhani’s nomination, along with the withdrawal of seven independent candidates has effectively cleared the path for BJP’s Mukesh Dalal to claim the prestigious constituency.
For the unversed, the Congress is contesting 24 of 26 seats in Gujarat while two constituencies are allotted to AAP as per the seat-sharing deal.
Dinesh Jodhani, the election agent of the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Surat, Mukesh Dalal, had objected to the nomination forms of Kumbhani on Saturday, after which the returning officer granted time to the Congress candidate to appear before it on Sunday morning to present his case.
In his reply, Kumbhani submitted that the proposers had put their signatures in his presence and their signatures should be examined by a handwriting expert. They should also be cross-examined for the benefit of justice, he said.
The returning officer ordered the rejection of the nominations forms after considering the affidavits submitted by the proposers and related evidence and after ascertaining the identity of the proposers and ensuring they were not threatened.
Even the presence of the signatories was not found in the video footage examined at the request of the Congress candidate’s lawyer, the Returning Officer stated.
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