Mukesh Dalal won the election "unopposed"
Mukesh Dalal, the BJP candidate for the Lok Sabha who was declared winner from the Surat parliamentary constituency after several withdrawals and disqualifications of opposition candidates, has said that the development symbolises the beginning of a comprehensive victory for the party in the general elections.
Mukesh Dalal won the election "unopposed" a day after the nomination of the party's Surat Lok Sabha candidate was rejected on Sunday over alleged discrepancies in the signature of the proposers.
BJP's Mukesh Dalal received the Member of Parliament (MP) certificate from Surat District Collector on Monday after all other candidates withdrew from the fray.
"Today I have been declared winner, so the first lotus has bloomed in Gujarat and in the country. I thank PM Modi, HM Amit Shah, party chief JP Nadda, state CM, and state BJP chief for showing faith in me. This is the first step towards the formation of a full majority government," Mr Dalal said.
The last date to withdraw nominations ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in Surat as part of phase 3 on May 7 was April 22, Monday.
Yesterday, the nomination papers of the Congress party's candidate Nilesh Kumbhani were rejected after his three proposers claimed in an affidavit to the district election officer that they had not signed his nomination form.
The nomination form of Suresh Padsala, the Congress' substitute candidate from Surat, was also invalidated, pushing Gujarat's principal opposition party out of the poll fray in the city.
In his order, Returning Officer Sourabh Pardhi said that all other eight candidates in the fray had withdrawn their nominations except Mukesh Dalal.
Congress and AAP are contesting the elections in Gujarat in alliance. Congress has fielded candidates on 24 out of 26 seats, while AAP is contesting Bhavnagar and Bharuch.
Voting in Gujarat will take place on May 7 in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)