Gandhinagar, Nov 2 (IANS): Shiv Sena candidate Kalavati Delkar was ahead in the race for the Lok Sabha seat of Dadra Nagar Haveli with a lead of 42,342 votes.

The counting began at 8 a.m in the constituency, part of the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, a reserved seat for ST candidates where an overwhelming 75.91 polling was recorded on Saturday.

The seat fell vacant following the death of Mohan Delkar, the Independent MP from the constituency, in February.

Kalavati Delkar, the widow of the late Mohan Delkar, was seen leading the race with 42,342 votes after the twentieth round of counting.

The contest for the seat is three-pronged with the Shiv Sena fielding Kalavati Delkar, the BJP giving the ticket to Mahesh Gavit, who is fighting his first major election after his stint as a district panchayat councillor and Mahesh Dhodi from the Congress.

The constituency has a total of 2.58 lakh voters, including 1.22 lakh female voters. Even though the Shiv Sena and the Congress are constituents of the MVA government in Maharashtra, they contested against each other in Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

The Shiv Sena had sent Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray and party MP Sanjay Raut to campaign for Kalavati Delkar.