In the tiny Lok Sabha constituency of Lakshadweep, a Union Territory comprising a group of islands in the Arabian Sea, elections have usually been low-key affairs with little to attract any national attention. Those laidback days are gone; in the run up to the 2024 general election, the islands’ atmosphere is uneasily charged, thanks to the political ferment triggered by a series of reforms pushed by Praful Khoda Patel, a political appointee who took over as the Union Territory’s administrator in December 2020.
Voting in the constituency, which is reserved for Scheduled Tribes, will be held under the shadow of the protests that raged over the Dweep administration’s alleged disregard for the islanders’ cultural ethos, livelihood opportunities, and basic needs.
