Congress's Indore candidate withdraws nomination, joins BJP
What's the story
The Congress's nominee for the Indore constituency has withdrawn his candidacy for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The official announcement was made on Monday when Akshay Bam, accompanied by Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Ramesh Mendola, visited the district collector's office to formally retract his nomination.
Following this, Bam joined the BJP—which was confirmed by senior party leader Kailash Vijayvargiya.
Voting for the Indore parliamentary seat will take place in the fourth phase, on May 13.
Indore contest
Bam was fielded against incumbent BJP MP
The Congress had fielded Bam against the incumbent BJP MP of Indore Shankar Lalwani.
The party had announced his candidature from Indore in March this year.
"I thank the top leadership for giving me this opportunity. Victory and defeat are a part of politics, the most important thing is that people stand with you and people believe your words," Bam had said then.
Lok Sabha polls
Bam wanted to contest assembly polls earlier
According to Bam, he had earlier asked to contest from assembly constituency number 4 of Indore, but was denied a ticket, ANI reported.
After Bam's shift, in a post on X, state Cabinet Minister Vijayvargiya said, "Congress Lok Sabha candidate from Indore Akshay Kanti Bam is welcome in the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party national president JP Nadda, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and state president VD Sharma."
On April 22
BJP wins unopposed from Surat Lok Sabha seat
This comes a week after the nomination form submitted by Congress leader Nilesh Kumbhani for the Surat Lok Sabha seat was invalidated.
His three proposers had approached the district returning officer, stating that the signatures on the document were not theirs.
The nomination form of Suresh Padsala—the Congress's alternative candidate for Surat—was also rejected for similar reasons.
The eight other candidates from the seat had also withdrawn their nominations—paving the way for BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal to be elected uncontested.
Statement
Congress to take legal recourse over Surat elections: Singhvi
The Congress will take legal recourse over Dalal's unopposed election to Lok Sabha, senior party leader senior leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said in Sunday, The Indian Express reported.
"Nobody is talking about winning or losing but we are talking about the principles of it. No returning officer can judge a signature's authenticity," he said.
Singhvi also highlighted that the returning officer forgot about the NOTA option.
Notably, last Friday, the Gujarat Congress suspended Kumbhani from the party for six years.