"Surat offered the first lotus to make our Narendrabhai the Prime Minister again," Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Gujarat unit wrote on X (formerly Twitter), hours after Mukesh Dalal, party's candidate won the Lok Sabha polls unopposed with his opponents out of the fray.
On Monday, 22 April, Dalal was given a Member of Parliament (MP) certificate by the District Election Officer, Sourabh Pardhi. With this he became the first elected candidate in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress party, however, has alleged that the BJP's candidate's election is an "attack" on India's democratic values.
"The Election Officer of Surat rejected the nomination of Congress candidate Nilesh Kumbhani over discrepancies in verification of signatures of three proposers. On similar grounds, officials reject the nomination of Suresh Padsala, the Congress' substitute candidate from Surat. Congress Party is left without a candidate," alleged Jairam Ramesh, party's General Secretary in-charge of communications.
After nomination of Congress candidate was rejected, other candidates too withdrew their nomination.
In his order, Returning Officer Pardhi said that 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.
'True Colours of the Dictator Are Out...': Rahul Gandhi
Reflecting on the Dalal's election, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that what happened in Surat was a step towards "abolition of Babasaheb Ambedkar's Constitution."
"The true face of the dictator 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. I am saying it again - this is not just an election to form a government, this is an election to save the country, this is an election to protect the Constitution," he wrote on X.
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