AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat High Court has issued summons to Bharatiya Janata Party MP Mukesh Dalal from the Surat Lok Sabha constituency in response to two petitions challenging his unopposed victory.
Justice JC Doshi’s court directed Dalal to respond by August 9, following a hearing on July 25, as per the petitioners’ lawyer, PS Champaneri.
Dalal was declared the winner on April 22, the final date for withdrawal of nominations, after Congress candidate Nilesh Kumbhani’s nomination was rejected, and other contenders withdrew. The remaining 25 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat were contested on May 7 during the third phase of the general elections. Including Surat, the BJP secured 25 seats in the state, while the Congress won one seat.
The petitioners argue that Kumbhani’s three proposers, who later denied signing his nomination papers, had initially declared their intent to do so before the deputy collector while applying for voter certification in the same constituency—a pre-condition for proposers. They assert that signature verification is beyond the collector’s purview and emphasized that the Congress, as a national party, does not lack proposers for its candidates in any constituency.
Dalal’s unopposed win marks the first instance in the past 12 years of a candidate winning a Lok Sabha seat without contest.
