BJP's Surat Seat Turmoil: Congress Accuses Party of 'Match-Fixing' Amid MSME Owners' Discontent

The Congress has alleged that the BJP manipulated the Surat Lok Sabha election by getting other candidates to withdraw, leaving BJP's Mukesh Dalal as the only candidate. The Congress candidate Nilesh Kumbhani was disqualified due to signature discrepancies. The Congress claims that this move is due to the anger of MSME owners and the business community towards the BJP. The BJP has been winning the Surat seat since 1984, and this move suggests the BJP is concerned about losing it. The Congress believes the election, and democracy itself, are under threat.

The Congress on Monday claimed the BJP was frightened by the anger of MSME owners and the business community and attempted ''match-fixing'' even in the Surat Lok Sabha seat which the ruling party has been winning since 1984.

The BJP's Mukesh Dalal is set to get elected unopposed from Surat after all other candidates withdrew from the fray while the candidature of the Congress' Nilesh Kumbhani was rejected on Sunday after the district returning officer prima facie found discrepancies in the signature of the proposers.

Reacting to the development, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh claimed that democracy is under threat.

'''Aap chronology samajhiye' (Understand the chronology): Surat District Election Officer rejects the Congress' candidate for Surat Lok Sabha Nilesh Kumbhani's nomination for 'discrepancies in the verification of signatures of three proposers'. On similar grounds, officials reject the nomination of Suresh Padsala, the INC’s substitute candidate from Surat. The Congress is left without a candidate,'' he said on 'X'.

''All other candidates withdraw their nomination except the BJP’s candidate, Mukesh Dalal. The BJP candidate declared 'elected unopposed' from Surat Lok Sabha seat on April 22, 2024, nearly two weeks before polling on May 7, 2024,'' Ramesh added.

He claimed that the ''distress'' of micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) owners and the business community in PM Narendra Modi's ''Anyay Kaal'' and their anger have ''spooked the BJP so badly that they are attempting to 'match-fix' Surat Lok Sabha, which they have won consistently since the 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 said on X.