Vadodara: The Manjalpur Assembly by-election is now a straight contest between the BJP and the Congress. The returning officer rejected the nomination papers of the three remaining candidates during scrutiny on Tuesday, leaving only the two major parties in the fray.A total of 15 nomination papers were filed by seven candidates on Monday, the last day for filing nominations. Of these, two were dummy candidates fielded by the BJP and the Congress to submit additional sets of nomination papers for their official nominees.This left five actual candidates in contention—BJP’s Satish Patel, Congress’ Bhikha Rabari, Right to Recall Party candidate Dinesh Ramakant Vyas, independent Paresh Vinodkumar Rathod, and another independent candidate. During scrutiny on Tuesday, the returning officer declared the nomination papers of the three non-BJP and non-Congress candidates invalid, leaving only Patel and Rabari in the race.The last date for withdrawal of candidature is July 16. However, with only two valid candidates remaining after scrutiny, the bypoll has effectively become a straight fight between the BJP and the Congress.Polling for the Manjalpur Assembly constituency will be held on July 30, while counting of votes is scheduled for Aug 3.
