The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured its first victory in the Lok Sabha elections on Monday, a day after the nomination of the Congress candidate from Gujarat’s Surat was rejected. BJP’s Mukesh Dalal was declared elected uncontested from the seat after the eight remaining nominees withdrew one by one.

“Hearty congratulations and best wishes to Surat Lok Sabha seat candidate Shri Mukeshbhai Dalal for being elected unopposed,” Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

Congratulating Dalal, Gujarat BJP chief CR Paatil said, “Congratulations and best wishes to Mukesh Dalal, candidate for Surat Lok Sabha seat, for being elected unopposed.”

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Nilesh Kumbhani, the Congress candidate from the Surat Lok Sabha seat, was unable to present even one of his three proposers before the election officer, after which his nomination form was cancelled.

The BJP had raised questions about the discrepancies in the signatures of three proposers in Kumbhani’s nomination form. The nomination form of Suresh Padsala, the Congress’s substitute candidate from Surat, was also invalidated, pushing the party out of the poll fray in the city.

In his order, Returning Officer Sourabh Pardhi said the four nomination forms submitted by Kumbhani and Padsala were rejected because at first sight, discrepancies were found in the signatures of the proposers, and they did not appear genuine. Also, the proposers stated in their affidavits that they did not sign the forms themselves, Pardhi’s order stated. Incidentally, Kumbhani’s three proposers were his relatives.

After the claim of the proposers, the Returning Officer had given one day’s time to Nilesh Kumbhani to file his response. The Congress candidate came to the election officer with his advocate, but none of his three proposers turned up.

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Even the presence of the signatories was not found in the video footage examined at the request of the Congress candidate’s lawyer, the order stated.

Meanwhile, the Congress accused the ruling BJP of foul play, claiming that everyone was scared of the government’s threat.

Congress leader and advocate Babu Mangukiya said that Kumbhani’s three proposers were kidnapped, adding that the Returning Officer should investigate it and not whether the form has been signed or not, India Today reported.

Mangukiya said that it was wrong to cancel the form without tele-checking the signatures and without checking whether the proposers’ signatures are correct or wrong.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, “Seeing the problems and anger of MSME owners and businessmen during the injustice period of PM Modi, BJP is so scared that it is trying to ‘fix the match’ of Surat Lok Sabha. They have been winning this seat continuously since 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,” he added.