Lok Sabha Election 2019, Daman and Diu profile: Congress set for a tough battle with BJP holding seat for two consecutive terms

The Daman and Diu Union Territory has a lone Lok Sabha constituency and Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Lalubhai Patel is the sitting MP from here. Patel has been elected for two consecutive terms and is going for a third attempt this election.

Spread over a mere 111 square kilometres, this is the second smallest Union Territory after Lakshadweep. The Union Territory has only two districts—Daman and Diu—of which Daman is larger. It is adjacent to the southern tip of Gujarat. After having been under the Portuguese rule for more than four centuries, the Union Territory was under Portuguese rule as recently as 1961. It then became a part of the Goa, Daman and Diu Union Territory. However, when Goa attained statehood, the Union Territory of Daman and Diu came into existence.

Daman and Diu have traditionally seen bipolar elections since the beginning between BJP and Congress. While BJP has fielded incumbent Lalubhai Patel, the Congress has decided to give candidate Ketan Patel as a second chance. In the 2014 elections, Lalubhai had defeated Ketan by a mere 9,222 votes.

Daman and Diu Lok Sabha Constituency

Constituency number: 1

Total electors: 1,11,808 (2014 estimates)

Female electors: 54,812

Male electors: 56,996

Reserved: No

Delimited: No

Assembly Constituencies: Daman and Diu

Results in last four elections: In 1999 and 2004, Dahyabhai Vallabhbhai Patel from Congress won the seat. He was succeeded by Lalubhai Patel from the BJP in 2009. Lalubhai was again elected in 2014 after he won with a margin of over 9,000 votes.

Demographics: As per the census of 2011, Daman district covers 64.86 percent of the total area of the Union Territory of Daman and Diu. Daman has a population of 191,173 and Diu has a population of 52,074. There are around 600 small-scale industries in the Union Territory and the economy is primarily dependent on fishing, tourism and distillery.