35 Candidates Elected Unopposed: Hardeep Puri Slams Rahul Gandhi For Remarks on Surat Result

New Delhi: Union minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Hardeep Singh Puri highlighted that 35 candidates have been elected unopposed since independence, after the Opposition claimed that Mukesh Dala's victory from the Surat Lok Sabha constituency was an evidence of BJP planning to end the democratic structure of the country. Responding to claims of Opposition, Union Minister Puri said, “Surat is not the first time that a candidate has been elected unopposed to Parliament. 35 candidates have been elected unopposed in general elections & bypolls since independence." 

Living upto Nickname: Puri Jabs Gandhi 

“With yet another ill-researched comment, this time on the unopposed election of Sh Mukesh Dalal Ji in Surat, the ‘young’ & aspiring Congress leader continues to live up to his famous nickname,” he said taking a jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.  On the Surat result, Gandhi had claimed that the BJP is taking away the right of people to choose their leaders. “Taking away the right of the people to choose their leader is another step towards destroying the Constitution of Baba Saheb Ambedkar. This is not just an election to form a government, this is an election to save the country, this is an election to protect the Constitution.” said Gandhi. 

Puri said that Gandhi's faith in Indian democracy will strengthen when he finds out that over half of the candidates who have been elected unopposed in the past hail from the Congress party and its allies. “His faith in democracy will be strengthened when he discovers that more than half of the 35 candidates were from the Congress party; & his belief in conspiracy theories will be shaken when he realises that this list includes his alliance partners Sh Farooq Abdullah Ji in 1980 & Smt Dimple Yadav Ji in 2012. His fear mongering on India’s Constitution is proof of why a lesson in history would have done him no harm,” said Puri in a post on X. 

What Happended in Surat? 

BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal was declared victorious from the Surat Lok Sabha seat after the nomination papers of the Congress candidate Nilesh Kumbhani were rejected by the returning officer, and the remaining eight candidates withdrew their nominations. Among the eight, four were Independents, three from smaller parties and Pyarelal Bharti of Bahujan Samaj Party.

On Sunday, the nomination of Congress candidate Nilesh Kumbhani was rejected after a preliminary examination revealed inconsistencies in the signatures of proposers, an election official said. The nomination form of Suresh Padsala, the Congress' "substitute" candidate from Surat, was also invalidated. "I declare that Mukeshkumar Chandrakant Dalal, sponsored by the BJP, has been duly elected to fill the seat in the House from Surat parliamentary constituency," election officer Saurabh Pardhi told reporters, after handing over the certificate of election to Dalal.