BJP candidate wins Surat Lok Sabha seat unopposed as his challengers pull out of race

Surat: 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 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 media persons 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 on 25 seats.

Except for Dalal, all 8 candidates in the fray from Surat- 4 Independents, 3 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 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 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.