Following Surat, Congress' Indore Candidate Withdraws from Election Race, Receives BJP's Welcome

In a continuing series of setbacks for the Congress, party leader Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew his nomination from the Indore constituency on Monday, just before the Lok Sabha elections, as reported by news agency PTI. The Congress had nominated Bam to run against incumbent BJP MP Shankar Lalwani for the Indore Lok Sabha seat, where voting is scheduled for May 13 in the fourth phase.

Following Bam's withdrawal, Kailash Vijayvargiya, a senior BJP leader and MLA from Indore, extended an invitation for him to join the BJP. "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 posted on X, previously known as Twitter, and also shared a photo of himself with Bam in a car.

Earlier this month, Nilesh Kumbhani, the Congress' candidate for Surat, also withdrew from the election race after his candidacy was rejected due to apparent discrepancies in the signatures of the proposers. The party's alternate candidate for the seat, Suresh Padsala, also had his nomination form rejected.

In the wake of these consecutive setbacks for the grand old party, Kumbhani alleged that his party colleagues did not support him during the election campaign. However, the Congress countered him, stating that the cancellation of the nomination was part of Kumbhani's "plan," and subsequently suspended him from the party for six years.

In addition to the Congress, a total of eight candidates, primarily independents, along with Pyarelal Bharti from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), chose to withdraw their nominations from Surat. Following this, on April 22, the BJP achieved 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 take place on May 7 during the third phase of the Lok Sabha general elections. The results will be announced on June 4.

(With inputs from PTI)