"First Lotus To PM Modi": BJP "Elected Unopposed" In Surat After Congress Candidate's Nomination Was Canceled

Gujarat BJP President C R Paatil congratulated the party's Surat candidate Mukesh Dalal for being elected "unopposed" in the Lok Sabha elections after Congress' candidate Nilesh Kumbhani's nomination was canceled.

"Surat offered first lotus to Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendrabhai Modi!! Congratulations and best wishes to Mr Mukeshbhai Dalal, candidate for Surat Lok Sabha seat, for being elected unopposed!!," Paatil posted on X.

This comes a day after Kumbhani's nomination form was rejected by District election officer and collector Saurabh Parghi over a discrepancy in the signatures of his three proposers.

The signature of the candidate or the proposer on the nomination form not being "genuine" is one of the reasons in the Representation of the People Act 1951 due to which nomination can be canceled.

Moreover, today on the last day of withdrawing nominations, all candidates including seven independents and the Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) Pyarelal Bharti withdrew their papers.

On the day of scrutiny of nomination papers, BJP candidate's election agent Dinesh Jodhani raised the objection that the signatures of Kumbhani’s three proposers were fake.

A day's time was then given to Kumbhani to rectify the objection by presenting the supporters before the election officials. However, neither of them appeared nor picked up his calls as their phones were "switched off".

Of the three proposers, two were Kumbhani's relatives and one was his partner. They had filed an affidavit earlier saying that the signatures on the form were not theirs.

The signatures were then matched with their respective signatures on other documents, after which they were found fake. Parghi noted that Kumbhani's documents "showed discrepancy".