A tiny Union Territory has a big contest going on this time
With the Congress accusing the Union Territory Administrator of high-handedness and BJP candidate Lalubhai Patel of smuggling liquor to Gujarat, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli are seeing a high-pitched campaign for the two Lok Sabha seats on May 7. The two enclaves were separate Union Territories till Parliament passed legislation in December 2019 and merged them.
While Dadra and Nagar Haveli, a seat reserved for the Scheduled Tribes, has nearly 2.5 lakh voters, Daman and Diu, the smallest Lok Sabha constituency after Lakshwadeep, has fewer than 90,000. The territory has four geographical entities: Dadra, Nagar Haveli, Daman and the island of Diu.
The Union Territory’s capital, Daman, is adjacent to the industrial town of Vapi in south Gujarat, while Silvassa is the largest city. Diu is a scenic island along the Saurashtra coast.
The Dadra and Nagar Haveli seat had mostly remained under the control of the late Mohan Delkar, the MP who ended his life in February 2021 in a Mumbai hotel. In a note, he had accused the Administrator of the Union Territory, Praful Khoda Patel, a political appointee who had earlier served as junior Home Minister of Gujarat between 2010 and 2012, of harassment. In the byelection that followed, Mohan Delkar’s wife, Kalaben Delkar, won on Shiv Sena ticket. This time, she is contesting as a BJP candidate. Mr. Delkar won the seat from 1989 to 2004 representing the Congress and the BJP, as an Independent and as a regional party candidate. In 2019, he won as an Independent.
Daman and Diu is dominated by the Koli community. The BJP’s sitting MP, Lalubhai Patel, has been winning here since 2009. The Congress has elded Ketan Patel whose father, the late Dahyabhai Patel, had been an MP from here twice, between 1999 and 2009. Mr. Ketan lost to Mr. Lalubhai in 2014 and 2019. The other candidate is Umesh Patel, an Independent who had secured more than 19,000 votes in the 2019 election.
On April 28, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressed a rally in Daman in which he lambasted the Administrator, and said the Congress would remove him to save the people from harassment and high-handed administrative actions. “After we form the government in Delhi, we will kick out Praful Patel from here and we will tighten the noose around him for his corrupt activities,” Mr. Gandhi said.
After Mr. Gandhi’s visit, the Congress intensied its campaign in Daman, and accused Mr. Lalubhai of liquor smuggling.
Mr. Lalubhai has dismissed all charges as “politically motivated”.