Kalaben Delkar, The BJP Candidate From Dadra And Nagar Haveli (Image: Facebook/Kalaben Mohan Delkar)

On March 13, the BJP decided to field sitting MP Kalaben Delkar from the Union Territory (UT) of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. However, it was a significant blow to the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), as she won the 2021 by-poll from the same seat on the ticket of the then undivided Shiv Sena. On March 16, Kalaben Delkar formally joined the BJP along with her son Abhinav Delkar.

In 2021, Shiv Sena created history by registering the first ever victory on a Lok Sabha seat outside Maharashtra as Kalaben Delkar won the Dadra and Nagar Haveli seat. The bypoll was held after her husband and sitting MP Mohan Delkar was found dead in a hotel in Mumbai in February 2021. Kalaben Delkar secured the seat by defeating her rival BJP”s Mahesh Gavit and Congress candidate Mahesh Dhodi by a margin of over 50,000 votes.

In September 2022, the Bombay High Court quashed the FIR registered against the administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli Union Territory and eight others for allegedly abetting the suicide of Mohan Delkar.

Meanwhile, Kalaben Delkar”s candidacy for the BJP is expected to add a new dimension to the electoral dynamics of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Mohan Delkar had won the seat by defeating then-sitting BJP MP Natubhai Patel. On that occasion, the winning margin was 9,001 votes. Notably, the Lok Sabha polls in Dadra and Nagar Haveli will be held on May 7.