In a historic first for the Bharatiya Janata Party, its Lok Sabha elections candidate from Surat, Mukesh Dalal won the 2024 Lok Sabha election unopposed. Notably, after the nomination of Congress candidate Nilesh Kumbhani was revoked, eight other independent candidates withdrew their nominations. This cleared the way for BJP’s Mukesh Dalal to be declared the Member of Parliament (MP) unopposed on Monday (22nd April). Strikingly, this made him the first BJP candidate in the history of Independent India to be elected unopposed during Lok Sabha elections.
While it has led to a political furore with opposing trying to paint it as an ‘assault on democracy” or ‘death of democracy’, it becomes pertinent to note that at least 35 candidates have won Lok Sabha polls unopposed since 1951. Incidentally, the majority of candidates who have entered the Lok Sabha unopposed belong to the Congress party.
Multiple times. The reference in his tweet is Dimple Yadav (2012). Some others who won unopposed are Y B Chavan, Farooq Abdullah, Hare Krishna Mahtab, T T Krishnamachari, P M Syeed and S C Jamir.
— Ritu Chaudhry (@TheRituChaudhry) April 23, 2024
The count I saw the other day was approx 35 such instances since 1951.
In 1957, a record-breaking seven candidates won the general elections uncontested. Five candidates won the elections without a contest in both the 1951 and 1967 elections. There were three uncontested victories in 1962, and two candidates were elected unopposed in 1977. Additionally, one candidate each secured an uncontested win in the elections of 1971, 1980, and 1989.
Several prominent names, including Samajwadi Party’s Dimple Yadav, National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah, and former Maharashtra CM Y B Chavan have also won Lok Sabha polls without a contest.
Dimple Yadav, the SP candidate, won the Kannauj Lok Sabha by-poll in 2012 without any contest. This happened after her husband, Akhilesh Yadav, became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and vacated the seat. Earlier, there were frequent allegations that the ruling party and administration gained an ‘unfair advantage’ in by-polls by misusing their power and intimidation tactics.
Other notable leaders who have won parliamentary elections unopposed include Hare Krishna Mahtab, T T Krishnamachari, P M Syeed, and S C Jamir. Unopposed victories have taken place twice in the constituencies of Sikkim and Srinagar.
While most of these candidates secured uncontested victories in general elections, at least nine, including Dimple Yadav, have won unopposed in by-elections.
Additionally, the election of members of the Legislative Assembly without a contest has been a norm in the state of Arunachal Pradesh where the tradition recently continued and 10 BJP candidates won their assembly seats unopposed.
