Meanwhile, ticket aspirants may turn independents to spoil everyone’s party
` There is of course, the incumbent BJP MLA. And then there is the defeated old warhorse who believes that the Cuncolim Congress ticket and the MLA’s position is his by right. And then there is the potential bureaucrat turned “common man”, who is believed to be heading to the Aam Aadmi party.
The new potential entrant, Elvis Gomes, has added to the spice and the mix to the Cuncolim political cauldron, though nothing is official about this yet. But if the just retired babu, decides to be freshly minted Aam Admi Party neta, this could give Cuncolim “strongman” Joaquim Alemao, more than a common cold. He might actually get the jitters.
In the last elections, the fight was mainly between BJP and the Congress and it came down to then Independent candidate John Monteiro, who won close to 5,000 votes and caused a split in votes that saw then Congress MLA and Urban Development Minister Joaquim Alemao lose to BJP’s Rajan Naik. The big ask is, if Elvis Gomes wears the ‘cap’, will he do to Joaquim what John Monteiro did in 2012?
Rajan, who secured 7738 votes will yet again depend on the “split votes”, to have any hope of retaining this seat. It may be recalled that in 2012, the majority of the BJP votes came from Cuncolim and Balli while the remaining votes had gone in favour of Joaquim and John from the villages of Chandor, Guirdolim, Macazana, Paroda and Ambaulim.
The battles lines that are currently being drawn are focusing on this division – the Cuncolim town, Balli and the panchayats.
While Rajan has defended his performance against charges of failing to bring in development in Cuncolim town, he was not successful in the recent municipal elections where the BJP won in two wards out of 12.
The Cuncolim municipal elections gave his rival Joaquim Alemao a boost, whose panel is currently ruling the council.
However, the question is whether Joaquim would contest as an Independent or on the Congress ticket. Joaquim has gone to the extent of meeting AICC chief Digvijay Singh in Delhi and has given a deadline to the party to decide but at the same time he has made his intentions of contesting as an Independent clear to the public as well.
The Congress party will have a tough task at hand as to rein in the potential infighting that could affect its chances in Cuncolim as there are three other candidates aspiring for the Cuncolim ticket and expected to contest as Independents if they are denied the ticket. These include ZP member Clafasio Dias, former Cuncolim Municipal Council chairperson Devendra Dessai and former contestant John Monteiro.
In addition to the above list, the names of Movin D’Souza and former Superintendent of Police Tony Fernandes have also done the rounds in the speculated aspirants list for Cuncolim constituency.
Thus the tradition of this land of many battles and struggles, gearing up for another one will continue.
The new potential entrant, Elvis Gomes, has added to the spice and the mix to the Cuncolim political cauldron, though nothing is official about this yet. But if the just retired babu, decides to be freshly minted Aam Admi Party neta, this could give Cuncolim “strongman” Joaquim Alemao, more than a common cold. He might actually get the jitters.
In the last elections, the fight was mainly between BJP and the Congress and it came down to then Independent candidate John Monteiro, who won close to 5,000 votes and caused a split in votes that saw then Congress MLA and Urban Development Minister Joaquim Alemao lose to BJP’s Rajan Naik. The big ask is, if Elvis Gomes wears the ‘cap’, will he do to Joaquim what John Monteiro did in 2012?
Rajan, who secured 7738 votes will yet again depend on the “split votes”, to have any hope of retaining this seat. It may be recalled that in 2012, the majority of the BJP votes came from Cuncolim and Balli while the remaining votes had gone in favour of Joaquim and John from the villages of Chandor, Guirdolim, Macazana, Paroda and Ambaulim.
The battles lines that are currently being drawn are focusing on this division – the Cuncolim town, Balli and the panchayats.
While Rajan has defended his performance against charges of failing to bring in development in Cuncolim town, he was not successful in the recent municipal elections where the BJP won in two wards out of 12.
The Cuncolim municipal elections gave his rival Joaquim Alemao a boost, whose panel is currently ruling the council.
However, the question is whether Joaquim would contest as an Independent or on the Congress ticket. Joaquim has gone to the extent of meeting AICC chief Digvijay Singh in Delhi and has given a deadline to the party to decide but at the same time he has made his intentions of contesting as an Independent clear to the public as well.
The Congress party will have a tough task at hand as to rein in the potential infighting that could affect its chances in Cuncolim as there are three other candidates aspiring for the Cuncolim ticket and expected to contest as Independents if they are denied the ticket. These include ZP member Clafasio Dias, former Cuncolim Municipal Council chairperson Devendra Dessai and former contestant John Monteiro.
In addition to the above list, the names of Movin D’Souza and former Superintendent of Police Tony Fernandes have also done the rounds in the speculated aspirants list for Cuncolim constituency.
Thus the tradition of this land of many battles and struggles, gearing up for another one will continue.
