SURAT: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured its first Lok Sabha victory on Monday, as its candidate from Gujarat's Surat constituency Mukeshbhai Dalal was declared as won uncontested, state chief minister Bhupendra Patel announced in a post on X, "Hearty congratulations and best wishes to Surat Lok Sabha seat candidate Shri Mukeshbhai Dalal for being elected unopposed." 

The BJP candidate's victory came after the nomination of the main opposition Congress candidate Nilesh Kumbhani for the Surat Lok Sabha seat, was rejected on Sunday after his three proposers said the sign on the papers was not theirs. Similarly, the nomination form of Suresh Padsala, the alternate Congress candidate from Surat, met a similar fate, effectively eliminating the main opposition party from the electoral race. 

According to Returning Officer (RO) Sourabh Pardhi, the nomination was rejected after a preliminary examination revealed inconsistencies in the signatures of the proposers. On the final day of nomination form withdrawals, 8 other independent candidates, along with Pyarelal Bharti from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), opted to withdraw their nominations.

According to election nomination rules, a candidate endorsed by a recognised political party needs one voter from the constituency to propose their candidacy. However, if the candidate is independent or nominated by an unrecognised political party, ten electors from the constituency must sign the nomination paper as proposers.