Congress’ Surat candidate Nilesh Kumbhani’s nomination papers invalidated after proposers deny they signed his form

Surat DEO seeks response from Congress candidate Nilesh Kumbhani after proposers deny signing nomination form.

In a huge setback to Gujarat Congress, nomination papers of the party’s Lok Sabha candidate from Surat Nilesh Kumbhani rejected after his three proposers claimed in an affidavit to the district election officer that they had not signed his nomination form.

On April 21, the District Election Officer (DEO) Sourabh Pardhi rejected the nomination of the Congress candidate on the ground that his three propers failed to turn up before the DEO to support his nomination form.

Also, the nomination papers of the substitute candidate of the party has also been rejected on the same ground that the proposers have denied having signed the form.

Now, there is no Congress candidate in the fray for Surat Lok Sabha seat.

The leaders of the opposition party have alleged that the proposers were “kidnapped” by the ruling party with the help of the Police and state machinery in order to get the candidate out of the race.

The district election officer (DEO) on April 20 sought a reply from Nilesh Kumbhani, Congress' candidate in Surat Lok Sabha constituency of Gujarat, after his three proposers claimed that they had not signed his nomination form.

Elsewhere in the BJP-ruled State, officials will also decide on objections to the nomination forms of Jenny Thummar, Congress candidate from Amreli; and Umesh Makwana, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate from Bhavnagar.