Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi has taken aim at the BJP after it won its first seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections unopposed from Surat, alleging that the party is working to dismantle democracy.
Drawing parallels with recent elections in Russia where opposition voices have been stifled, Chaturvedi pointed out the absence of any significant challengers to President Vladimir Putin, alleging that dissenters face imprisonment or worse.
‘This is Putin’s style of democracy where the opposition is vanished completely,’ Chaturvedi said. ‘A few days ago there were elections in Russia, and there was no one standing against him because whoever opposes him, lands up in jail, gets the punishment of ‘Kaala Pani’ and dies and he becomes President after receiving 85 per cent votes. PM Modi is trying to adopt the same model.’
Ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2024, Chaturvedi highlighted the rejection of the main Congress candidate and the subsequent withdrawal of all independent candidates in Surat. She argued that such actions undermine the fundamental principles of democracy.
‘In Surat, the main candidate of the Congress party was rejected, then the substitute candidate was also rejected and all independent candidates withdrew the forms…This will be their democracy, without casting votes, BJP people get elected and PM Modi will keep the government,’ she said.
The election officer on Sunday cancelled the nomination papers of the Congress candidate Nilesh Kumbhani from Surat over alleged ‘fake signatures of people who signed as witnesses.’ Following this, BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal was elected ‘unopposed’ from the Surat Lok Sabha constituency after all other candidates in the fray including independents and candidates from smaller parties also withdrew their nomination papers on the last day, leaving the party with no opposition candidate in the battle for the Lok Sabha seat. All 26 seats of Gujarat will go to the polls in a single phase on May 7.
