After Surat, Congress' Indore candidate drops out of poll race, 'welcomed' by BJP

In yet another setback for the Congress, party leader Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew his nomination from the Indore constituency on Monday ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, reported news agency PTI.

The Congress had fielded Bam against sitting BJP MP Shankar Lalwani from the Indore Lok Sabha seat, where polling will be held on May 13 in the fourth phase.

Shortly after Bam's withdrawal, senior BJP leader and MLA from Indore, Kailash Vijayvargiya, welcomed him to join the party. “We welcome Shri Akshay Kanti Bam ji, Congress Lok Sabha candidate from Indore in BJP, under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, National President JP Nadda and Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and State President VD Sharma, ” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, and also shared a picture with him in a car.

Earlier this month, Congress' Surat candidate Nilesh Kumbhani dropped out of the poll race as his candidature was rejected after the district returning officer prima facie found discrepancies in the signature of the proposers. The party’s substitute candidate for the seat, Suresh Padsala, also had his nomination form rejected.

Also read: Lok Sabha polls: How Lovely’s resignation as Delhi Congress chief can hurt party

Amid the back-to-back setbacks for the grand old party, Kumbhani claimed that his party colleagues did not help him during the poll campaign. However, the Congress hit back at him, saying that the cancellation of the nomination was Kumbhani's part of a "plan, and also suspended him from the party for six years.

Apart from Congress, a total of eight candidates, predominantly independents, along with Pyarelal Bharti from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), opted to withdraw their nominations from Surat. Following this, on April 22, BJP secured its first victory in the Lok Sabha elections, as its candidate from Gujarat's Surat constituency, Mukesh Dalal, won uncontested.

Voting for other seats in Gujarat will be held on May 7 during the third phase of the Lok Sabha general elections. The result will be announced on June 4.

(With inputs from PTI)