Lok Sabha polls 2024: BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal elected unopposed from Surat after other candidates withdraw

New Delhi [India], April 22 (ANI): Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President CR Paatil on Monday congratulated his party's candidate Mukesh Dalal for winning the Surat Lok Sabha seat after all other candidates in fray withdrew their nominations.
Paatil took to social media platform X to post, "Congratulations and best wishes to Mukesh Dalal, candidate for Surat Lok Sabha seat, for being elected unopposed."
"Surat offered first lotus to Prime Minister Shri Narendrabhai Modi!!," he said.
Surat District Collector and Election Officer Saurabh Pardhi today handed over Mukesh Dalal the certificate of the Member of Parliament (MP).
Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel also in a post on X congratulated Dalal.
Yesterday, the nomination papers of the Congress party's candidate Nilesh Kumbhani were rejected after his three proposers claimed in an affidavit to the district election officer that they had not signed his nomination form.
The nomination form of Suresh Padsala, the Congress' substitute candidate from Surat, was also invalidated, pushing Gujarat's principal opposition party out of the poll fray in the city.
In his order, Returning Officer Sourabh Pardhi said that all other eight candidates in the fray had withdrawn their nominations except Mukesh Dalal.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh alleged that the BJP is trying to "match-fix" the Surat Lok Sabha polls, which he said they have won consistently since 1984 Lok Sabha elections.
He said that the candidate being declared "elected unopposed" from Surat Lok Sabha nearly two weeks before polling in the state indicated that the BJP was "spooked."
In a tweet on X, Jairam Ramesh said, "distress and anger faced by MSME owners and businesspeople in Modi's Anyay Kaal" has spooked the BJP so badly that they are attempting to "match-fix" Surat Lok Sabha, which they have won consistently since 1984 Lok Sabha elections!"
"Our elections, our democracy, Babasaheb Ambedkar's Constitution - all are under a generational threat. This is the most important election of our lifetime!," Ramesh posted.
Congress and AAP are contesting the elections in Gujarat in alliance. Congress has fielded candidates on 24 out of 26 seats, while AAP is contesting Bhavnagar and Bharuch.
Voting in Gujarat will take place on May 7 in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections. (ANI)