Shiv Sena fields late MP Mohan Delkar's wife for Dadra and Nagar Haveli Lok Sabha bypoll

Mohan Delkar. File Pic

The Shiv Sena has fielded Kalaben Delkar, wife of independent MP late Mohan Delkar, for the by-election to Dadra and Nagar Haveli Lok Sabha seat due later this month.

The seat had fallen vacant following the death of Mohan Delkar, a seven-term MP, in February this year. The bypoll is scheduled for October 30 and the last date of filing nomination papers was October 8. The counting for votes will take place on November 2. Kalaben Delkar filed her nomination on October 8 for the Scheduled Tribe (ST) reserved seat.

She will contest against Mahesh Gavit of the BJP and Mahesh Dhodi of the Congress in the by-election, which will be held along with the by-elections to two other Lok Sabha and 30 Assembly constituencies in the country. On February 22, Delkar allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself at a hotel in Marine Drive area of Mumbai. He had been a member of both the Congress and the BJP at different times of his political career, and was elected seven times to the Lok Sabha from the Dadra and Nagar Haveli constituency.

Making an emotional appeal to the voters during her poll campaign, Kalaben Delkar said, "They compelled him to commit suicide, it was no less than a murder of a popular leader. We have to punish his murderers. The fight is for our justice. If we do not fight now, then even the god wil not pardon us. I have shed enough tears, but now is not time to shed tears but to give them resounding reply."

"This is the first time that I have come before you without Mohanbhai. I assure you that I will be strong enough to not give you any scope for complaint. Mohanbhai won for seven terms because of the love of the people and his ideals. I will carry forward the same ideology that made him such a popular leader," she said.

Delkar had won the 2019 Lok Sabha election by defeating the then sitting BJP MP Natubhai Patel by a margin of 9,001 votes. Patel had twice defeated Delkar, in 2009 and 2014, when the latter had contested on the Congress ticket.

In March, the Mumbai police had registered an FIR on the charge of abetment to suicide in connection with Delkar's death on the basis of a suicide not recovered form his possession with some names. Delkar's wife and son had also met Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in this connection.

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