India News | Voting Underway for Bypoll to Dadra and Nagar Haveli Lok Sabha Seat

Silvassa, Oct 30 (PTI) Voting for the by-election to Dadra and Nagar Haveli Lok Sabha seat began on Saturday morning with people queuing up outside the polling booths to cast their votes.

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The by-election was necessitated following the death of Mohan Delkar, the independent MP from the constituency, in February this year.

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There are three candidates in the fray, including Delkar's widow Kalaben Delkar, who is contesting as a Shiv Sena nominee. From the BJP, Mahesh Gavit is fighting the bypoll, while the Congress has fielded Mahesh Dhodi.

Voting is underway across 333 booths and tight security arrangements have been made with the deployment of 10 companies of paramilitary forces, officials of the Election Commission said.

There are a total of 2.58 lakh voters in the constituency, including 1.22 lakh female voters, the officials said, adding that around 1,500 people were deployed for election duty.

The Shiv Sena and the Congress are constituents in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra, but they are contesting against each other in Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

On February 22, Mohan Delkar had allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a hotel in the Marine Drive area of south Mumbai.

Delkar, who had been a member of both the Congress and the BJP at different times of his political career, was elected seven times to the Lok Sabha from Dadra and Nagar Haveli. In 2019, he had won the seat as an independent.

The counting of votes will be taken up on November 2.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)