AAP's confidence that it will seep into Gujarat politics with a larger chunk of seats, denting both BJP’s and Congress’s vote bank seems to be a lost cause in the Surat (East) seat. The seat, which has in the past rejected AAP, is at the centre of the storm after AAP’s candidate Kanchan Jariwala withdrew his candidature.
Jariwala, a businessman selling stainless steel kitchen cabinets claims that AAP was demanding money and he was not capable of paying Rs 80 lakh to Rs 1 crore for a seat. On the other hand, AAP claims that he has withdrawn his nomination under BJP’s pressure, The Indian Express reported.
Manish Sisodia on November 16 said that it's the first time in the Indian democracy that a person who wanted to contest election was opposed by the BJP and he disappears only to appear to return his nomination and disappears again.
In the 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections, AAP was unable to mark its presence in the Surat (East) seat, in fact with 0.22 per cent of the votes it was lagging behind NOTA which had 0.86 per cent votes.The fight was two way between the BJP and the Congress.
Kanchan Jariwala didn’t have a victorious contribution to assure AAP either. Jairwala has lost the municipal election in 2021 on a Congress ticket and BJP had all the 15 wards with them.
AAP which did significantly better in the Municipal elections had won 27 seats in the areas dominated by the Patidaars but Surat (East) remained with BJP.
AAP’s Salim Multani who fought from the same seat in the past will fight as an independent candidate as the law doesn’t allow him to fight from the same seat as AAP candidate.
Surat (East) has around 2.12 lakh population out of which 92,000 are Muslims, 40,000 Ranas and 20,000 Khatris. Since 2007, the seat has remained with the Rana community.
Playing to the AAP’s narrative of BJP’s role in Jariwala’s withdrawal, Congress’s candidate from Surat (East) Aslam Cyclewala, has asked AAP to support him since their candidate has withdrawn his nomination.