Another Surat robbery

I remember reading about Shivaji Maharaj's plunder of Surat in my school history text books. Those took place in the 17th century. On April 22, 2024, another robbery happened in Surat. The BJP's candidate for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Mukesh Dalal, was elected unopposed from Surat. The last time such an instance took place was 35 years ago. How did this happen? Here is a gist of the murky story:

Nilesh Kumbhani (Congress)

The biggest opposition for Mukesh Dalal was the Indian National Congress candidate Nilesh Kumbhani. He filed his nomination on April 18. He had 3 proposers (at least one is needed for recognized parties while independent candidates or smaller parties need ten). The 3 proposers were: his business partner, nephew and brother-in-law. 

On April 20, election officials summoned Kumbhani and other candidates to scrutinise their papers, a routine affair. But, Kumbhani did not show up at the scheduled time. The BJP's candidate agent, Dineshbhai Jodhani, submitted a complaint asking to investigate one of Kumbhani's proponent. Just 90 minutes after that, Kumbhani's three proponents turned up with "affidavits" claiming that their signatures on Kumbhani's form were forged. A fantastic investigation by Newslaundry found out that all these affidavits were purchased on the same day within a span of 5 minutes and all have consecutive serial numbers. All the affidavits were notarized by a BJP leader Kiran Ghoghari who also happens to be a lawyer. When Newslaundry journalists did their job questioning Jodhani, he answered a few questions and then told them, “If you ask too many questions, there will be trouble.”

Meanwhile, Kumbhani did not keep his party leadership in the loop about this grave matter. They found out through the District Magistrate's office. When the local leadership tried to call him, he kept ignoring their calls. After finally showing himself at the DM's office, he told everyone that his proponents (business partner, nephew and brother-in-law) are missing and he will keep trying to contact them. He then left around 5 pm and has been MISSING since then. The Congress has now suspended him for 6 years. They say he was either colluding with the BJP or completely careless. No prizes for guessing the answer.

Other candidates


Was Nilesh Kumbhani the only opposing candidate to Mukesh Dalal? Not at all. In fact, there was another candidate from the Congress itself - Suresh Palsada. His proposer was his nephew, who also submitted an affidavit saying his signature was forged. Of course, this affidavit was also purchased along with those from Kumbhani's proponents and notarized by the same BJP leader cum lawyer - Kiran Ghoghari. Hence, both the Congress candidates were disqualified. As an aside, Ghoghari apparently charged the Congress proponents 5 times his usual rate. They / someone paid Rs. 2500 per affidavit. I guess just making history (this was the BJP's first unopposed win) is not enough. One needs to make money too.


Is this the end? No.


There were 8 other candidates. Did their proposers also submit affidavits alleging forgery? No. There needs to be variety in murky dramas. All the remaining 8 candidates withdrew from polls on the very last day i.e. 22nd April. Scroll tried to contact all of them. Here is what some of them who could be contacted said:


Kishore Dayani (Independent): “I ran because Surat has a very bad traffic problem and I wanted to raise that issue. On Monday, a well-known person who is a supporter of the BJP met me and said that the party has plans to solve traffic problems in the city, like a metro project, so I need not run.”


Jayesh Mevada (Global Republican Party): “I wanted to change the poor state of this nation. “But if the Congress with all its might is not fighting, why should I? It is better to let our visionary Prime Minister Narendra Modi change our country.”


Ajitsinh Umat (Independent): “I was essentially fighting against the Congress ideology. Once they fell out of the race, I saw no point in contesting.”


Bharat Prajapati (Independent): “I went into depression so I withdrew.”


Ramesh Baraiya (Independent): “I am going back to my village.”


Sohel Shaikh (Log Party): “I withdrew just like that.”

The Allahbad-based Log Party is led by retired Indian Administrative Service officer Vijay Shankar Pandey. When Pandey heard the news that the Congress candidate’s nomination had been rejected, he saw it as a good opportunity to lead the charge against the BJP in Surat. He tried calling him but (shockingly) his phone was switched off. Even their lawyer couldn't reach him. As expected, Shaikh did not consult the party and his decision to withdraw was unilateral. Pandey said, “We have all been kept in the dark. This is sheer opportunism. This is the rotten state of politics in our country.”

What is surprising to me is why the BJP chose to pull off this trick in Surat of all places. They have won the last 9 general elections from Surat. In 2019 they had a vote share of 74%. Maybe they wanted to send a trial balloon and gauge the feedback? Either way, Indian politics has now successfully robbed the voters of Surat from exercising their vote in this election. In the words of the Tamil Nadu IT Minister - Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, maybe Democracy in India is already dead, and in this election, we're just in its wake.