Whether the local governing body elections were on party lines or not, the results of the civic elections to six municipal councils and the Corporation of the City of Panaji clearly indicate the preference of the electorate for governance. With the early trickling in of results it was clear that the advantage was with the party in power. With the exception of Cuncolim Municipal Council, all others municipalities, Panjim included, were wrested by panels supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party. It was plainly a victory for the party across the State and a big boost to its fortunes as it goes to polls in the five councils where elections will be held next month. The party could not have asked for a better result and from the reactions of the party leaders it was clear that they were pleased with the result.
When one analyses the results along with those of the Zilla Panchayat elections held in December, it is apparent that the Bharatiya Janata Party is the favoured one. In December, after the BJP had comfortably taken hold of the two Zilla Panchayat bodies, there was the question of whether it could hold on to the electorate until the next Assembly elections. Three months later, and despite the setback of the Supreme Court ruling on the ward reservation that went against the government, the party support does not appear to have diminished. For that matter, the party president had, after the Supreme Court ruling, sounded confident that it would not affect the party prospects in these elections.
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After the Zilla Panchayat results, this is therefore a distinct advantage to the party, and the elections next month to the six councils assume even more importance. Can the BJP keep up the performance? For the party winning these councils will be as important as those that it has just won.
If the elections were a feedback on the popularity of the local MLAs, as most of the panels were supported by the Members of the Legislative Assembly, then the BJP MLAs have no cause of worry. Whether it be Pernem, Valpoi, Bicholim, Curchorem-Cacora, Canacona it was the local BJP MLA who was able to prove that he still has a strong hold on the electorate. In the Corporation of the City of Panaji, the local MLAs – Atanasio and Jennifer Monserrate swept the State capital winning 25 of the 30 wards. For BJP, the only setback was Cuncolim where their MLA Clafasio Dias was not able to hold on to the town council. This, after he had won the Guirdolim Zilla Panchayat seat, despite the opposition in the village to the double tracking of the railway.
On the other hand, if the principal opposition party, the Congress, can take solace in the panel supported by it winning in Cuncolim, it still has to do some very serious introspection on what went wrong elsewhere, especially in the Navelim Zilla Panchayat by-election that it lost to an Independent, despite fielding its strongest possible candidate – their State Manila Congress president who had earlier appeared reluctant to take the plunge in the district body polls but then campaigned wholeheartedly. The recriminations after the loss from the candidate, on lack of support from senior leaders, however, are quite jarring and should have been avoided.
Now, after the victory celebrations, the elected panels have to deliver on the promises made during the campaign. There is a lot of work that is required to be undertaken in Goa’s towns. Even Smart City Panjim lags far behind after cities on various counts. With the towns, the district panchayat bodies and the State Assembly with the party, can the Bharatiya Janata Party give Goa the good governance that it had promised long years ago?
