Figures as on 4.30 pm

Dadra Nagar Haveli: Riding on sympathy wave, Shiv Sena candidate Kalaben Mohan Delkar, the widow of late former 7-term Lok Sabha MP Mohan Delkar who died by suspected suicide, today won the Lok Sabha seat by-election of Dadra Nagar Haveli. Though the final result is not declared, her victory is certain, looking at the margin she enjoys.

Kalaben had joined Shiv Sena last month after Bharatiya Janata Party refused to accept the condition of removal of Praful Patel from the post of Administrator of Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. The demand was put before BJP by Kalaben Delkar’s son, who believes that strong handed Praful Patel was the reason of his father and then sitting MP of Lok Sabha late Mohan Delkar’s suspected suicide.

Kalaben Delkar got 1,17,590 votes, while her close rival, BJP candidate Mahesh Gavit, garnered 66,610 votes, the Election Commission website showed. Congress candidate Mahesh Dhodi got only 6,104 votes. Bharatiya Tribal Party candidate got 1,772 votes while 5524 votes went to NOTA. The bypoll for this parliamentary seat, reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates, was held on October 30. The vote cast in this small Lok Sabha seat were less than 2 lakh (1,97,600) only.

The counting of votes commenced at 8.30 am in Karad area of Silvassa city in Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The by-election was necessitated due to the death of sitting MP Mohan Delkar, an independent. He had won the 2019 election by defeating then sitting BJP MP Natubhai Patel by a thin margin of 9,001 votes. Mohan Delkar hanged himself at a Mumbai hotel on February 22, 2021. Delkar had joined Congress and BJP both parties in the past, but the last Lok Sabha election in 2019 was won by him as an independent candidate. DeshGujarat