BJP's First Win in 2024 Lok Sabha Election: Surat Candidate Mukesh Dalal Gets A Walkover Surat (Gujarat): BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal was on Monday elected unopposed from Surat Lok Sabha constituency in Gujarat after all other nominees withdrew from the fray, a poll official said. The development marks the first victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
"I declare that Mukeshkumar Chandrakant Dalal, sponsored by the BJP, has been duly elected to fill the seat in the House from Surat parliamentary constituency," District Collector cum election officer Saurabh Pardhi told reporters as he handed over the Certificate of Election to Dalal.
Voting for all 26 constituencies in Gujarat is scheduled for May 7, but with the result of Surat seat already out, polling will be held now only on 25 seats.
Except for Dalal, all eight candidates in the fray from Surat- four Independents, three from smaller parties and Pyarelal Bharti of Bahujan Samaj Party - withdrew their nomination papers on the last day, as per the Surat district election office. Notably, the candidature of Congress' Nilesh Kumbhani from the Surat seat was rejected on Sunday after the district returning officer prima facie found discrepancies in the signature of the proposers.
The nomination form of Suresh Padsala, the Congress' substitute candidate from Surat, was also invalidated. The Congress on Sunday alleged that Kumbhani's nomination form was rejected at the behest of the BJP and said it would challenge the rejection in the High Court.
"Surat has presented the first Lotus to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I congratulate our candidate for the Surat Lok Sabha seat Mukesh Dalal for getting elected unopposed," Gujarat unit BJP president C R Paatil posted on X (formerly Twitter). In the 2019 polls, BJP won all 26 constituencies in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh lashed out at the BJP saying that democracy was in danger. "Democracy is in danger. You must understand the chronology. Surat District Election Officer has cancelled the nomination of the Congress candidate from Surat Lok Sabha, Nilesh Kumbhani," Ramesh said in an elaborate post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
"The reason cited was 'faults in the verification of signatures of three proposers'. Citing similar reasons, officials rejected the nomination of Suresh Padsala, Congress' alternate candidate from Surat. The Congress party is left without a candidate. Except (for) BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal, all other candidates have withdrawn their nominations. The BJP candidate from Surat Lok Sabha seat was declared 'unopposed' on April 22, 2024, just about two weeks before the polling on May 7, 2024. Seeing the problems and anger of MSME owners and businessmen during the injustice period of Prime Minister Modi, the BJP is so scared that it is trying to 'fix the match' of Surat Lok Sabha. They have been winning this seat continuously since the 1984 Lok Sabha elections. Our elections, our democracy, Babasaheb Ambedkar's Constitution - everything is in grave danger. I repeat - this is the most important election of our lifetime," added Jairam, who is Congress General Secretary.
Meanwhile, speaking to ETV Bharat, P.D.T. Achary, the former Secretary General of Lok Sabha said, "As far as this matter is concerned, the Returning Officer is just exercising his powers. Nobody can question his authority. After the scrutiny of all the nominations, if the RO feels that only one person is left, in that case, he/she will be declared elected and that's the rule."
"Even if it's challenged, the Supreme Court in its ruling has said several times that once the elections begin, it will not intervene in between and any such matters can only be addressed once the elections are over. So, if the affected person wants to take up this case, he or she can move to court via an election petition but only after the elections are over," added Achary.
