Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the ruling party at the Centre, which has given a clarion call of “Abki Baar 400 Paar,” won the Surat Lok Sabha seat even before polling took place in the constituency.
Opposition parties often allege that the BJP resorts to activities like horse-trading to form its government in various states. In the Lok Sabha elections, the saffron party went a step further in its reputation and ensured the victory of its candidate without a single vote being cast by the voters.
The BJP candidate from Gujarat’s Surat Lok Sabha constituency, Mukesh Dalal, was declared elected unopposed on Monday after all other candidates withdrew their names.
Congress candidate Nilesh Khumbhani's nomination was rejected as his proposer backed out, while eight other independents also withdrew their names, allowing Dalal to win unopposed. Monday was the last day for the withdrawal of names. The nomination of alternate Congress leaders was also rejected by the poll officer.
Here, the victory of the BJP candidate isn’t the result of the poor fate of the Congress candidate, whose proposer ditched him at the last minute. The election of the BJP candidate was the outcome of the Gujarat BJP’s meticulously planned and flawlessly implemented strategy. To elect a BJP candidate unopposed for the first time in history, reportedly, Congress candidate Nilesh Kumbhani was hand in glove with BJP’s state leadership.
The script of the “Operation Unopposed” has been revealed. Here is how the BJP, with the help of the Congress candidate, ensured the victory of its candidate unopposed.
According to a report from the Hindi newspaper Dainik Bhaskar, the BJP shared the strategy it had devised to ensure the victory of its candidate with the Congress candidate Nilesh Khumbhani. Khumbhani, to make the BJP's operation successful, went ahead with the plan while keeping the party's state unit in the dark.
Khumbhani included relatives and close associates in his list of proposers instead of Congress party cadre members. In his nomination papers, Khumbhani listed his proposers as his sister-in-law Jagdiya Savalia, business partner Dhruvin Dhamelia, and Ramesh Polara.
Nilesh Khumbhani also appointed his nephew Bhautik Koladia as the proposer for the dummy Congress candidate Suresh Padsala. Khumbhani did not bring any proposer in front of the election officer while submitting the nomination.
All four proposers submitted false affidavits, and they went underground themselves. A notice was issued to explain the reasons, but no one appeared. Subsequently, Khumbhani and dummy candidate Suresh Padsala's nomination was rejected.
BJP's unopposed operation was carried out in Surat for 24 hours under the direct supervision of the party's state president CR Patil at the five-star hotel Le-Meridien.
Four candidates, including Pyarelal Bharti from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and candidates from small parties, were present in Surat. BJP adopted a policy of persuasion, reward, and punishment. Accordingly, all four candidates, including leaders of the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Party, Global Republican Party, and People's Party, withdrew their nomination papers on the last day, Monday.
Before this, BJP convinced the all four Independent candidates to withdraw their nominations.
