As the Surat Lok Sabha seat was won uncontested by the BJP, with the Congress candidate’s nomination declared invalid and subsequently eight candidates withdrawing, the Congress’s Indore candidate too dropped out on the last day of withdrawal of nominations, leaving the party without a nominee in the seat.
Nilesh Kumbhani, the candidate disqualified in Surat later claimed lack of support from own party ranks.
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh recently said “a beginning” had been made from the two seats, towards achieving the BJP’s target of 400-plus Lok Sabha seats for the NDA.
After the Congress was ruled out from the race, Pyarelal Bharti, 58, fielded by the BSP, was seen as the only viable challenge to BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal. The Congress and AAP, who are allies in Gujarat, also promised to support Bharti.
A native of Varanasi, settled in Surat for last 25 years, Bharti, however, stunned his party by declaring that he was withdrawing. In his affidavit, Bharti, who runs a weekly newspaper called Sharmik Shakti, put his education qualification as Class 10 and declared cash in hand of Rs 5,000 as part of his assets.
BSP Surat president Satish Sonavne said that after coming to know of Kumbhani’s decision, the party feared that something was afoot and immediately got cracking.
According to the BSP leader, they have still not been able to get in touch with Bharti or his family. Their rented Surat house is locked and the family is said to be currently in Varanasi.
Bharatbhai Prajapati, 50, a worker in Surat’s diamond units for the past 30 years, said in his affidavit that he earned Rs 15,000-20,000 a month and had Rs 30,000 cash in hand.
“I thought about contesting myself and filed my nomination from Surat seat as an Independent. I thought my form would be rejected, but then it was accepted. I went into depression about how I would contest. Even my blood pressure went down and I fell ill. My family members then told me to withdraw.
Kishor Dayani, 45, a Patidar who is into share market brokerage, filed nomination as an Independent. He said community people including BJP leaders told him that all the candidates had withdrawn after the Congress candidate’s form was rejected. They said if I alone did not withdraw, an election would be held with lakhs of rupees of the government wasted.
Dayani said the Congress approached him, asking him to stay in the race and offering support. “However, I thought, why waste lakhs of rupees of the government. So I decided to withdraw.”
Sohel Shaikh, 31, deals in sale and purchase of used cars. He filed his nomination as a candidate of the ‘Bahujan Republican Socialist Party’, declaring educational qualification of Class 8 and cash of Rs 60,000 in hand.
Shaikh says after filing his nominationm he lost interest and decided to withdraw as he feared there would be no supporters for him.
Similarly, Jayesh Mevada, 54, filed his nomination from ‘Global Republican Party’ but later withdrew.
Mevada said, “After seeing the rejection of the Congress candidate’s nomination and the withdrawal of the others, I also withdrew. I don’t want to say anything more.”
Baraiya Ramesh, 58, who filed his nomination as an Independent, said, “I would not have withdrawn, but seeing the situation of the Congress candidate and the other Independents who withdrew, I too decided to give up.”
Ramesh also said, “I tried to contact Congress leaders in the state but they didn’t respond. If they had declared support for me, I would have definitely contested.”
A native of Gonda in Uttar Pradesh and settled in Surat for 20 years as a contractor in interior decoration, Abdul Hamid Khan, 52, filed his nomination as a candidate of the ‘Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Party’, only to withdraw it days later.
Khan, whose photo with BJP state president C R Paatil, who belongs to Surat, went viral after his withdrawal, said he took the decision “due to some personal reasons”. “I don’t want to share them.”
Ajit Sinh Umat, 39, another of those withdrawing nomination, tried to contest as an Independent and mentioned doing “private work” in his affidavit. His reason to opt out is also unclear.
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