BJP’s Mukesh Dalal is set to be elected unopposed from the Surat Lok Sabha seat after all other candidates withdrew from the contest, the party’s Gujarat unit chief CR Paatil said today. Today was the deadline for withdrawing nominations.

“Surat has presented the first lotus to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I congratulate our candidate for Surat Lok Sabha seat Mukesh Dalal for getting elected unopposed,” Mr Paatil posted on the microblogging website X, referring to the BJP’s election symbol.

માનનીય પ્રધાનમંત્રી શ્રી નરેન્દ્રભાઇ મોદી સાહેબને સુરતે પહેલું કમળ અર્પણ કર્યું !!

સુરત લોકસભા બેઠકના ઉમેદવાર શ્રી મુકેશભાઇ દલાલને બિનહરીફ ચૂંટાવવા બદલ ખૂબ ખૂબ અભિનંદન અને શુભેચ્છાઓ પાઠવ્યા !! #PhirEKBarModiSarkar#AbkiBaar400Paar pic.twitter.com/w87WSrla5s

— C R Paatil (Modi Ka Parivar) (@CRPaatil) April 22, 2024

Eight candidates – seven of them independents – and Pyarelal Bharti of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) withdrew their papers.

The nomination papers of the Congress’s Surat candidate Nilesh Kumbhani was rejected on Sunday after the district returning officer Saurabh Parghi found discrepancies in the signatures of the proposers.

The nomination form of Suresh Padsala, the Congress’s substitute candidate from Surat, was also found invalid.

The returning officer had said the four nomination forms submitted by the two Congress candidates did not appear genuine. The proposers, in their affidavits, had said they had not signed the forms themselves, the returning officer said in the order.

Congress lawyer Babu Mangukiya said the party will approach the high court and the Supreme Court for relief.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh in a post on X said the Surat developments indicate “democracy is under threat”. “Our elections, our democracy, Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Constitution – all are under a generational threat. This is the most important election of our lifetime,” Mr Ramesh said.

The Isfahan province in Iran was hit with drone and missile strikes last week. The attack reportedly originated from Israel and targeted a region which houses Iran’s nuclear facility and air defence systems. 

American news agencies said Israel conducted the attacks, meanwhile, the Jewish state neither agreed nor denied carrying out the strikes. The explosions occurred a week after Iran launched a relentless drone, cruise and ballistic missile attack on Israel, its arch-rival in the region. The targeted strikes from Tehran were unprecedented and occurred after tensions reached their brim. 

The New York Times and the BBC have analysed satellite images of the region that was struck by drones and a missile, reportedly launched from a warplane. The satellite images show a battery of the Russian-origin S-300 Surface-Air anti-ballistic missile defence system positioned northeast of the Isafan International Airport. The satellite images show the S-300 defence system located at the secret facility on April 15. The latest image on Google Earth shows the place empty, with no traces of the S-300 missile defence system present. The Natanz nuclear facility is located north of the site of the attack.

The system comprises several vehicles equipped with radar, distinctive missile launchers and other equipment, the BBC reported based on its analysis. The drones and missiles reportedly struck the system, implying that Israeli weapons managed to evade the Iranian air defence system and went undetected and hit a region armed with an anti-ballistic missile defence system. 

The two Iranian officials said that Iran’s military had not detected anything entering Iran’s airspace on Friday, including drones, missiles and aircraft, the New York Times reported. The assessment is backed by Iran’s state media agency IRNA, which said, no missile attacks had occurred and that Iran’s air defence system had not been activated. The satellite images assessed by the BBC and the New York Times show damage to the facility. 

Umbra synthetic aperture radar imagery acquired 0648Z 19APR2024 showed evidence of damage to the Iranian S-300PMU2 strategic surface-to-air missile battery in Isfahan since 15APR2024. A probable damaged 30N6E target engagement radar was visible in imagery still on the radar… pic.twitter.com/eqMFTanPOH

— Chris Biggers (@CSBiggers) April 19, 2024

The BBC said the radar of the S-300 defence system was damaged but the missile launchers were intact. The fire control radar directs the missile toward the target and is an important element in the system. Iran International, a news agency critical of the regime, said, “The image shows clearly that the system’s engagement radar, which guides the surface-to-air missiles, has been destroyed,” Farzin Nadimi, a Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute, told the agency.

اختصاصی: تصاویر دقیق ماهواره‌ای پیش و پس از حمله منتسب به اسرائیل به سامانه‌های پدافندی در پایگاه هشتم شکاری اصفهان pic.twitter.com/Ta8LwskLpl

— Fardad Farahzad | فرداد فرحزاد (@FardadFarahzad) April 21, 2024

The extent of the damage is still unknown and what weapons were used reportedly by Israel is still unclear as both sides have denied the claims. However, the New York Times, quoting Western officials, reported that Israel’s attack was calculated to deliver a message to Iran that it could bypass its defence systems undetected, adding that, neither the missile nor the aircraft that fired it entered Jordanian airspace, the Western officials said. 

Russia completed the delivery of the S-300 air defence system to Iran in 2016 after years of negotiation. The supply of one of the most formidable air defence systems sparked concerns within Israel. In 2010, Russia was forced to scrap the deal with Iran following pressure from the West. 

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