Surat: There was drama on the last day of filing of nomination papers here on Tuesday and the people enacting the characters in it were from Congress. Nilesh Kumbhani was replaced as party's candidate from Kamrej assembly constituency in a late night announcement. Congress gave its ticket to Ashok Jirawala, yet a defiant Kumbhani filed his nomination papers with the party mandate at 10.30 am on Tuesday. Jirawala, too, filed his nomination papers with Congress mandate after a while.Kumbhani told TOI, "I had the party mandate and yet I was being told not to file my papers. I asked Patidar Anamat Aandolan Samiti (PAAS) conveners Alpesh Kathiria and Hardik Patel and they said since I had Congress' mandate to fight election as its candidate from Kamrej, I should file my nomination papers. It is for the Congress to decide who it wants as its candidate."Kumbhani, who has a groundnut factory and farmlands in Bhavnagar and Amreli districts, is into realty business in Surat.District electoral officer of Surat Mahendra Patel said, "According to law, when two nominations are filed on one party's mandate, if the second mandate has instructions from a political party to cancel the first mandate, then the first nomination gets rejected. If not, the first nomination papers filed with the mandate will be valid. Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee has instructed in the second mandate that the first mandate should be treated as cancelled. The rule will be followed."The drama involving Congress in Kamrej got intense when Congress president of ward number 15 Naresh Kachhadiya resigned from the party and filed his nomination papers as an independent candidate.Alpesh Kathiria said, "Both the candidates had called me up and sought my suggestions. I told them to file their papers and let the Congress decide who it wants to continue as its candidate."PAAS had earlier alleged that it was not consulted by Congress leadership while finalizing the candidates for Surat and other constituencies in the state.

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