Shiv Sena candidate Kala Delkar won the bypoll to a Dadra and Nagar Haveli Lok Sabha seat by defeating rival BJP and Congress candidates with a record margin.
The seat had gone vacant following the death of Delkar's husband, independent MP Mohan Delkar, who was found dead in a private hotel in Mumbai earlier in February this year. Kala Delkar defeated her rival BJP's Mahesh Gavit and Congress candidate Mahesh Dhodi with a record 51,009 votes.
This is said to be Shiv Sena's first Lok Sabha seat outside Maharashtra.
Soon after the victory, the party's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut tweeted, "First step outside Maharashtra, giant leap towards Delhi via Dadra Nagar Haveli !"
Delkar had won the polls in 2019 as an independent candidate by defeating the then sitting BJP MP Natubhai Patel by 9,000 votes. A highly popular leader in the union territory, Delkar was found hanging at a hotel in Mumbai on February 23. His family alleged that Delkar was constantly being harassed by the local administrator that compelled him to take his own life. Before contesting as an independent candidate in the last poll, Delkar had been a member of Congress and BJP at different points in time.
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(Published 02 November 2021, 11:27 IST)
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