Surat: The nomination forms of Congress candidate Nilesh Kumbhai were rejected by the Election Officer after all three proposers said the signatures in forms were not theirs.

Congress candidate Nilesh Kumbhai had filed three nomination forms with three different proposers. However all three met with the Election Officer and also submitted their notarized affidavits conveying that the signatures in nomination forms in their names were not theirs.

One of the proposers is Kumbhani’s business partner while the other proposer is Kumbhani’s own relative. The party leaders including Aslam Cyclewala clearly opined that Kumbhani himself breached the trust of Congress party and played in the hands of BJP, otherwise it’s not possible that his own friend and relative do such thing.

Congress had roped in two advocates, Jamir Sheikh and Babu Mangukiya to represent their case. However the final decision of Election Officer came against Kumbhani and his form was declared rejected. Congress had also fielded Suresh Padsala as dummy candidate of party. But Padsala also faced same issue. A proposer mentioned in his nomination form backtracked and submitted a notarized affidavit before the Election Officer conveying that the form had not his signature.

With this, Congress will be contesting only 23 of 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat. The party has allocated two seats to Aam Aadmi Party(AAP). This is the lowest number of Lok Sabha seat Congress is contesting in Gujarat ever. DeshGujarat

Abdul Hamid Khan – Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel party

Soheil Sheikh – Log Party

Jayesh Mevada – Global Republican party

Bharat Prajapati – Independent

Ajitsinh Umat – Independent

Pyarelal Bharti – Bahujan Samaj Party

Kishrobhai Dayani – Independent

Rameshbhai Baraiya – Independent

DeshGujarat