The Gujarat Congress has suspended its Surat Lok Sabha candidate, Nilesh Kumbhani, from the party for a period of six years. Kumbhani’s suspension comes in the wake of his nomination form being rejected by the Election Commission (EC) due to discrepancies, resulting in the uncontested victory of BJP’s Mukesh Dalal on Monday, reports The Indian Express.
According to the party, Kumbhani’s nomination form was rejected as he had “mixed up with the BJP” or was “completely careless” while filing his form.
Meanwhile, Kumbhani released a video on social media, accusing Congress leaders of failing to provide him with adequate support.
A statement from the Congress said the party’s disciplinary committee decided to suspend Kumbhani after thorough discussion, adding it had come to the conclusion that the nomination form was rejected due to gross negligence on his part or “in connivance with the BJP”.
“To be fair to you we have given time to you to explain your case but instead of coming before the party disciplinary committee you have gone incommunicado. After your form was rejected by the authorities, BJP went ahead and got form of other eight candidates withdrawn. This has deprived people of Surat their voting rights,” the Congress disciplinary committee headed by Balu Patel said.
“People of Surat and party workers have become very angry due to your action and are expressing their anger in different ways. The Congress party has decided to suspend you for six years from the party,” the press note said.
On April 21, Nilesh Kumbhani faced a setback as his nomination form was rejected following the submission of affidavits by his three proposers to the district returning officer. These affidavits claimed that the signatures on the document were not authentic.
Suresh Padsala, the substitute candidate nominated by the Congress from Surat, faced a similar fate as his nomination form was also invalidated on identical grounds.
The decision was made by Returning Officer Sourabh Pardhi, who said that the nomination forms of Kumbhani and Padsala were rejected due to apparent discrepancies in the signatures of their proposers, casting doubt on their authenticity.
Kumbhani, a former corporator from Surat, had previously contested the 2022 Assembly polls from Kamrej constituency but was unsuccessful.
Following these developments, Mukesh Dalal of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the uncontested winner of the Surat Lok Sabha constituency on April 22. This occurred as all other candidates, including one from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), gradually withdrew their nominations on the final day of the withdrawal process.
Meanwhile, when The Indian Express visited the residences of Nilesh Kumbhani, Suresh Padsala, and their four proposers in Surat on Wednesday, they found that none of them were at home, and their current whereabouts were unclear.