Gujarat:Cong's Surat candidate's nomination rejected, Voting on May 7

In Gujarat, the nomination forms of Congress' Surat Lok Sabha candidate Nilesh Kumbhani were rejected on Sunday after his three proposers had submitted affidavits to the district returning officer claiming the signature on them were not theirs. The nomination form of Suresh Padsala, the Congress' substitute candidate from Surat, was also invalidated, pushing state's principal opposition party out of the poll fray in the city.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. Hence, Kumbhani's nomination form has been rejected, Pardhi said in the order.
Confirming the development, the Congress party's lawyer Babu Mangukiya said, "Nomination forms of Dinesh Kumbhani and Suresh Padsala have been rejected after the four proposers said signatures on the forms were not theirs."Mangukiya said the next course of action will be to approach the High Court and Supreme Court.
Gujarat, historically synonymous with the BJP's dominance, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah,is gearing up for yet another electoral showdown. With the BJP clinching all Lok Sabha seats in the previous elections (2019), the party's supremacy in the region seems unassailable. However, as the nation approaches the next electoral cycle, the dynamics of power are poised for a rigorous test.The state is considered a staunch bastion for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. But in recent years, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party has made significant inroads.As part of Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), both AAP and the Congress are contesting polls in Gujarat together. Congress suffered a severe blow earlier in 2019 and in 2014 when it was unable to secure any seats in Gujarat.

(Ira Singh, Asstt Editor, Gandhinagar)