Congress leader Jairam Ramesh hit out at the BJP on Monday after the saffron party's candidate for the Surat Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat was declared the winner before the polls. He accused the BJP of "trying to match-fix the Surat Lok Sabha polls" because the party is "scared" of the "anger" among the people.
BJP's Surat candidate Mukesh Dalal won the polls after the Returning Officer cancelled the nomination form of Nilesh Kumbhani, the Congress's candidate, and the other eight candidates for the seat withdrew their nominations.
The nomination form of Suresh Padsala, the Congress' substitute candidate from Surat, was also invalidated.
Jairam Ramesh reacted to the development and said, "Seeing the problems and anger of MSME owners and businessmen during Prime Minister Modi's injustice era, the BJP is so scared that it is trying to "fix the match" of Surat Lok Sabha."
He pointed out that the announcement came around two weeks before the polling was scheduled to be held on May 7 and added, "Everything is in grave danger -- our elections, our democracy, Babasaheb Ambedkar's Constitution."
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also reacted to Mukesh Dalal's win and wrote on X, "Tanashah ki asli 'Surat' ek baar fir desh ke saamne hai." (The dictator's true face is once again in front of the country).
"Taking away the right of the people to choose their leader is another step towards destroying the Constitution of Baba Saheb Ambedkar," he added.
Nilesh Kumbhani's nomination was cancelled after he failed to produce even one of his three proposers before the election officer after discrepancies were found in their
The BJP had raised questions about the discrepancies in the signatures of three proposers in Kumbhani's nomination form.
Nilesh Kumbhani, the Congress candidate from 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.
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.
The proposers also stated in their affidavits that they had not signed the forms themselves, said an order by Returning Officer Sourabh Pardhi. Incidentally, Kumbhani's three proposers were his relatives.
Nilesh Kumbhani was given a day to file his response after the proposers made their claim. However, when he came to the election officer with his advocate, none of his three proposers turned up.
Congress leader and advocate Babu Mangukiya alleged that Kumbhani's three proposers were kidnapped and said the Returning Officer should investigate it and not whether the form had been signed or not.
