Shiv Sena candidate Kalaben Delkar, the wife of former independent MP late Mohan Delkar, took a decisive lead of over 15,000 votes as counting was underway on Tuesday for the by-election to the Dadra and Nagar Haveli Lok Sabha seat.
The counting of votes commenced at 8.30 am in the Karad area of Silvassa city in Dadra and Nagar Haveli, which is part of the Union Territory of the Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
The bypoll for this parliamentary seat, reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates, was held on October 30. After the completion of 11 rounds of counting, Kalaben Delkar was leading by over 15,000 votes. She had so far received 44,723 votes, while her close rival, BJP candidate Mahesh Gavit, was trailing with 29,388 votes. Besides, Congress' Mahesh Dhodi got 1,947 votes so far, an Election Commission official said.
The byelection 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 allegedly hanged himself at a Mumbai hotel on February 22, 2021.
He had been a member of both the Congress and the BJP at different times of his political career and was elected seven times to the Lok Sabha from Dadra and Nagar Haveli. In 2019, he won the seat as an independent.
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