Surat Lok Sabha candidate Nilesh Kumbhani suspended from Congress

The Gujarat Congress on Friday suspended its Surat Lok Sabha candidate Nilesh Kumbhani — whose nomination form was rejected over alleged discrepancies, leading to the BJP's Mukesh Dalal being elected unopposed — from the party for six years.

A statement from the Congress said the party's disciplinary committee decided to suspend Kumbhani after thorough discussion, adding that it had come to the conclusion that the nomination form was rejected owing to gross negligence on his part or "in connivance with the BJP".

"To be fair to you, we have given you time 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 After your form was rejected by the authorities, the BJP went ahead and got the forms of the other eight candidates withdrawn. This has deprived people of Surat of their voting rights," the Congress disciplinary committee headed by Balu Patel said.

"People of Surat and party workers are very angry owing to your actions and are expressing their anger in different ways. The Congress party has decided to suspend you for six years," the press note said.

Kumbhani's nomination form was rejected on 21 April after his three proposers submitted affidavits to the district returning officer claiming the signatures on the document were not theirs. The nomination form of Suresh Padsala, the Congress' substitute candidate from Surat, was also invalidated on the same grounds.

In his order, returning officer Sourabh Pardhi said the three nomination forms submitted by Kumbhani and Padsala were rejected after prima facie discrepancy was found in the signatures of the proposers and they did not appear to be genuine.

Kumbhani, a former corporator from Surat, had unsuccessfully fought the 2022 Assembly polls from Kamrej there.

The BJP's Mukesh Dalal was elected unopposed from Surat Lok Sabha constituency on 22 April after all other nominees, including one from BSP, withdrew from the fray one by one on the last day of withdrawing papers.