Surat: Disqualified Congress candidate on Surat Lok Sabha seat, Nilesh Kumbhani left for vacation in Goa with his family after his nomination forms were rejected by the Election Officer. Speculations are rife that he may join the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) at appropriate time.

With rejection of several nomination forms including those of Kumbhani and Congress party’s dummy candidate, and withdrawal of nominations by all other candidates, the only candidate left in the field, BJP’s Mukesh Dalal was declared victorious unopposed yesterday.

Meanwhile, less than a dozen Congress cadres gathered at Kumbhani’s residence this morning with placards and shouted slogans against him. Police later detained them. Kumbhani’s nomination form was rejected as the signatures of his all three proposers were found fake. The proposers themselves came to the Election Officer and submitted affidavits that they had not signed nomination forms of Kumbhani. While Kumbhani was the Congress party’s main candidate, the nomination form of a dummy candidate was also rejected for the same reason. The dummy candidate could file four nomination forms, but he had submitted only one and that was rejected as the proposers backtracked. DeshGujarat