Gujarat: 128 Opposition candidates ‘go missing’ day before local polls

Of the 2,178 seats of civic and local bodies in Gujarat that went to polls on Sunday (February 16), the BJP has bagged 215 — that is, close to 10 per cent — unopposed. That happened after 87 Opposition candidates belonging to the Congress and the AAP, and Independents, withdrew their candidature mysteriously the day before.

The remaining 128 candidates — including 115 from the Congress, three from the AAP, and 10 Independents — went missing from their respective districts, also the day before, bringing to mind the circumstances surrounding the Assembly (2022) and Lok Sabha elections (2024) in Surat.

Mysterious withdrawals, one disappearance in Junagadh

The State Election Commission (SEC) announced the results of the 215 seats at 6 am, an hour before polling began on Sunday. Of these, 196 were in municipalities, 10 in district and taluka panchayats, and nine in the Junagadh Municipal Corporation (JMC).

In Junagadh, the Congress had fielded 60 candidates for the civic polls, of which nine withdrew their application a day before the polls. One candidate, Dilip Gale, who had filed his nomination from an OBC-reserved seat, went missing on February 15 morning and is yet to be traced.

Also read: Gujarat: Why Opposition is crying foul over BJP’s ‘unopposed’ Surat win

“When we went looking for him at his residence, his wife handed over a letter signed by him stating he was withdrawing his nomination in support of the BJP. Unable to make any contact with him, we submitted the letter and vacated the seat,” said a Congress worker from Junagadh on condition of anonymity.

The worker also alleged that in Kodinar Municipality, former BJP MP Dinu Solanki threatened the Congress candidates to withdraw. “Solanki might not be an MP anymore, but he is still a political strongman in Junagadh and no one wants to invite his ire,” he added.

Congress candidates complain of threats

At Halvad Municipality in Morbi district, seven Congress candidates who were in the fray claimed to have been receiving threats since February 14 and requested police protection.

However, after receiving no response from the police, they submitted a formal complaint to the sub-divisional magistrate. The next day, all six candidates withdrew their candidature.

At Bachau Municipality in Kutch, the BJP won 11 of the 28 seats uncontested after 10 Congress candidates and one AAP candidate went missing from the evening of February 15. Later, on the day of polling, the family members of the candidates produced a letter signed by the respective candidates stating they were withdrawing in favour of the BJP.

In the Dharampur taluka panchayat, five of the Congress’s six candidates have been missing since the morning of February 15.

Also read: Surat Congress candidate Kumbhani goes ‘missing’ amid BJP-switch buzz

Same letters by five candidates

“Instead of seeking votes on the basis of progress, the BJP has been using coercion to eliminate Congress and other opposition candidates,” Ajit Garasiya, the Congress president of Dharampur, complained to The Federal.

“How can all five candidates go missing in a matter of hours! All our candidates and workers met on the morning of February 15. After a brief meeting, we left for home to meet again at 5 in the evening. But none of our candidates turned up in the evening meeting,” he added.

“By 7 pm, it was confirmed that they were all ‘missing’ and we had their families giving us letters, all framed in exactly the same words, stating that they were withdrawing their candidature,” Garasiya told The Federal.

Noticeably, Congress has been winning the Dharampur local body for three decades.

How BJP won 12 seats ‘unopposed’ in Valsad

At the Jodhpur taluka panchayat in Mahisagar district, despite the Congress filing a formal complaint regarding the disappearance of the party’s three candidates a few hours ahead of the local polls, the SEC declared the BJP as the unopposed winner even before the polls began on February 16.

Also read: ‘Cong betrayed me’: Surat candidate whose nomination form was rejected resurfaces after 20 days

In Valsad district, 72 seats across three municipalities went to polls. For seven seats, as many as nine Congress candidates withdrew their applications, while three Congress candidates and one from the AAP went missing for three seats.

As a result, the BJP won 12 seats “unopposed” in the Valsad local body, a tribal-dominated area that had been a Congress bastion for decades.

No support from community

“This would have been my first election, and I campaigned with due diligence. But for the last two days, my community elders had been pressuring me to withdraw from the race. I cannot disappoint my community, so I stepped back from the polls. Elections will come and go, but without my community’s support, I won’t be able to do business or survive in the society,” said Sandeep Dabhaliya, a sugar trader and Congress candidate who was to contest the Valsad local polls.

“I was sure of at least four candidates winning their seats. But the BJP has used every weapon in its arsenal to ensure our candidates do not contest the polls. They were offered money first, and those who refused were threatened that their relatives holding government jobs would be transferred to odd locations if they did not withdraw,” Girish Desai, the Valsad Congress president and also a candidate, told The Federal.

“Thankfully, the Congress had decided to keep an open invitation for Independent candidates. Now that our candidates are either missing or have withdrawn their candidature, we might need to take the help of Independent candidates for a majority,” he added.

Also read: Gujarat | BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal wins Surat Lok Sabha seat unopposed

Surat rerun

Notably, the BJP had won the Surat parliamentary seat in 2024 in similar circumstances after the Congress candidate, Nilesh Kumbhani, went missing ahead of the last date of filing nomination. Kumbhani returned to Surat a week later after the BJP was declared the unopposed winner from Surat.

The AAP had made similar allegations for the Surat East seat during the 2022 Assembly polls.

No FIR registered

“We have lost all our candidates in the same manner. They were either bribed or coerced to withdraw their nominations. What else can you expect from the BJP? They did it in Surat in 2024, and they are doing it again. We have still not been able to make contacts with the missing candidates. Our local leaders have tried to file complaints with the SEC and the respective local police, but no FIR has been registered so far,” said Manish Doshi, the state Congress spokesperson.

“There are many seats like Dharampur, Junagadh, Bilimora, etc., where we were confident of giving a tough fight if not win the seat. That is why the BJP did not let people vote in these seats. They might have lost if there was an actual voting,” shared Doshi, adding that the candidates who withdrew their nominations have been expelled from the party.

The SEC is yet to respond to the Opposition’s allegations.