UT voters elect candidates who address local issues

Surat: Unlike neighbouring states, voters in the Union Territory of Daman Diu and Dadra Nagar Haveli have been electing their leaders based on local issues.
In the case of Kala Delkar, who switched parties thrice in the past couple of years, she was again elected from Dadra Nagar Haveli (DNH) parliamentary constituency. She had contested on BJP ticket this time.Similarly, neighbouring Daman Diu (DD) voters elected Umesh Patel, an independent candidate rejecting BJP candidate Lalu Patel, a three-term MP.
DNH elected Kala Delkar in 2021 when she contested the by-election after the death of her husband Mohan Delkara the then sitting MP. Mohan Delkar was found hanging in a hotel room in Mumbai. He left a suicide note based on which his family lodged an FIR with Mumbai police. Mohan Delkar was an independent MP while his wife Kala Delkar was given a ticket by Shiv Sena (then united) and she won against BJP’s Mahesh Gavit.
After the Eknath Shinde group separated from the Uddhav Thackeray faction and Shiv Sena divided into two parties Delkar continued with the Thackeray fraction. In the 2024 , Kala distanced herself from Shiv Sena (UBT) and decided to contest on a BJP ticket.
“We were with Shiv Sena UBT but our workers demanded that we join a party that addresses our local issues. Hence we joined the BJP which is in position to form a government at the centre,” said the BJP leader in DNH.
When BJP won a record 303 seats in the 2019 general elections, Mohan Delkar won the DNH seat defeating sitting BJP MP Natu Patel. Previously Delkar was elected as MP for six consecutive terms from 1989 to 2004.
When in neighbouring Gujarat all seats except for one were won by the BJP, in Maharashtra INDIA alliance secured a good number of seats. But in DD Congress candidate Ketan Patel got only 11,258 votes. Patel is from a family having a strong political background. However, people in DD chose a leader that raised local issues keeping the national party candidates away from power.