Double blow for Congress in Surat: Nomination papers of candidates rejected, party says will move HC

The Congress on Sunday hit out at the BJP after the nomination form of the party's candidate from the Surat Lok Sabha constituency was rejected. Gujarat Congress chief Shaktisinh Gohil alleged that the nomination form was rejected at the behest of the BJP which he said is "rattled".

Gohil said the Congress will file a petition in the Gujarat High Court against the Returning Officer's decision to cancel the nomination form of the party candidate Nilesh Kumbhani over alleged discrepancies in the signatures of proposers in the form.

Not just that, the nomination form of the party's substitute candidate Suresh Padsala was also rejected, pushing the Congress out of the race in Surat. 

Voting for all 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat will be held in the third phase on May 7. The last date for filing the nomination was April 19.   

In his order, Returning Officer Sourabh Pardhi said the four nomination forms submitted by Kumbhani and Padsala were rejected after discrepancies were found in the signatures of the proposers, and they did not appear genuine. 

"The BJP is rattled as it has realised that the situation is not favourable for them this time (in elections). It hatched a conspiracy to get the forms of Congress candidates cancelled by hook or by crook. Kumbhani was their target ever since he filed his nomination form because BJP sensed defeat in Surat seat," Gohil said. He alleged that attempts were also made to threaten Kumbhani. 

The senior Congress leader said the nomination form cannot be cancelled after the nomination form was filed solely on the proposers' claim that signatures in the form do not belong to them. 

Three proposers claimed in an affidavit to the district election officer that they had not signed Nilesh Kumbhani's nomination form. Incidentally, the sole proposer for Suresh Padsala, the Congress' substitute candidate from Surat, also denied he signed on the nomination form.

Gohil also claimed that the nomination form of Aam Aadmi Party candidate from the Surat-East assembly seat in the 2022 elections was not cancelled even though two proposers had claimed that they had not signed his nomination form. The returning officer had refused to cancel the nomination form, saying discrepancies in the proposers' signatures cannot be the basis for the cancellation of the form, claimed Gohil. 

"At that time, the form was not rejected because the AAP candidate would have helped the BJP by splitting votes. But this time, our form was rejected at the behest of BJP because the ruling party realised that it was going to lose Surat seat in the Lok Sabha elections," the Congress leader said. He sought the intervention of the Election Commission into the issue. 

"We will file a petition in the High Court against this order (of the Returning Officer) and also knock on the doors of the Supreme Court if needed," said Gohil. He said the returning officer should have taken the help of forensic experts to match the signatures of proposers in the nomination form and in their affidavits, which they submitted later claiming they had not signed the nomination form. 

The Congress and AAP are fighting the Gujarat Lok Sabha polls in alliance. The Congress has fielded candidates on 24 of 26 seats, while AAP is contesting from Bhavnagar and Bharuch.