SINCE THE sequence of events began with the rejection of his nomination papers, to the BJP winning the Surat Lok Sabha seat uncontested on Monday, Congress candidate Nilesh Kumbhani remained unavailable to his party and the media.
All calls to the 44-year-old Leuva Patel leader who rose to prominence during the Patidar reservation agitation but who had at best won a municipal election before he got the Lok Sabha ticket from the Congress went unanswered.
Originally from Amreli district, Kumbhani made his fortune in Surat, prospering in real estate and land brokerage. What got him involved in politics was his proximity to Hardik Patel, the poster boy of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) that spearheaded the reservation agitation for the community.
Leaders of PAAS, which is now virtually disbanded, with Hardik himself in the BJP, say that Kumbhani played an active role in the protests that began in 2015, seeking quota for Patidars in government jobs and education. He is said to have helped organise the massive Surat rally, attracting an estimated six lakh people, which made the BJP government in the state sit up and take notice.
Later, PAAS struck a deal with the Congress for the Surat Municipal Corporation elections held in December 2015, fielding its candidates in different wards on the Congress ticket. Many of them won in wards dominated by the Patidars, such as Varachha, Punagam, Mota Varachha, Kapodara, Katargam, Nana Varachha. Kumbhani was among them, winning from Ward No. 17, Puna East, defeating a BJP candidate.
PAAS leaders said that in the 2017 Assembly elections, Kumbhani tried to convince Hardik to get him a Congress ticket from Kamrej seat. However, the Congress didn’t agree and fielded another Patidar, Ashok Jirawala, who lost to the BJP.
When the Surat Municipal Corporation elections came around again in 2021 (after the Covid break), Kumbhani again contested, but this time lost.
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On how the party decided on him as a Lok Sabha seat candidate, Surat Congress president Dhansukh Rajput said that the BJP had chosen a “Surati” candidate, and the party had chosen a Patidar, “as there are over 6.50 lakh Patidar voters in this seat of a total of 18 lakh voters”. “We found Nilesh Kumbhani competent as he is also financially sound and popular within the community.”
Kumbhani filed three nomination forms for the Surat Lok Sabha seat, to apparently be on the safe side, with a different proposer for each – Jagdish Savaliya (his brother-in-law), Dhruvin Dhamelia (his nephew) and Ramesh Polra (his business partner).
Congress sources said he also arranged the dummy candidate who would substitute him in case his papers got rejected, Suresh Padsala, an acquaintance who had worked for him when he was a corporator. The proposer for Padsala, Vishal Koladiya, was reportedly also picked up by Kumbhani.
The poll officers found discrepancies in the signatures of all four of the proposers. Like Kumbhani, Padsala has also gone “missing”, with Congress leaders admitting they had not been able to find him.
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Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who led a party delegation to meet the Election Commission, seeking that the polls in Surat be postponed, told reporters in Delhi: “In Surat, the Congress candidate who was nominated by four proposers… suddenly all four stand up and deny their signatures… all four together. This is no coincidence. The candidate is missing for many hours. By the time he surfaces, we find that every other candidate has withdrawn their candidature.”
However, Surat City Congress leader and spokesperson Naishad Desai suggested that the party still clung to some hope when it came to Kumbhani. Accusing the BJP of “taking advantage of administrative officials”, and what had happened in Surat “a murder of democracy and the election system”, Desai said: “Nilesh Kumbhani has gone to the Gujarat High Court and will file a petition in the coming days against the decision of the Surat election officer. If he does not do such a thing, we will take steps against him.”
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