PANJIM: Ten persons, including dummy candidates, have filed their nominations for the Panjim by-elections scheduled on May 19.
Taleigao strongman and Congress candidate Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate, BJP’s Siddharth Kuncalienkar, AAP’s Valmiki Naik and GSM’s Subash Velingkar are the four main candidates in the fray for the high-profile Panjim constituency seat.
Dipak Katakadhond (HJP), Mahesh Sures Mhambrey (GSM dummy), Vijay More (Independent),
Dilip Ghadi (Independent), Anish Sricanta Bacal (Independent) and Prasad Prakash Amonkar (INC dummy) are the other candidates who have filed their nominations.
Kuncalienkar has filed four sets of nomination papers while Monserrate has filed three.
Congress senses its best chance to win back Panjim that has been held by the BJP since 1994. Monserrate, whose panel is in the ruling side in the Corporation of the City of Panaji, on Monday swept the Taleigao panchayat polls, as his panel won all the wards.
The Panjim seat fell vacant after former chief minister Manohar Parrikar died last month after a battle with cancer. BJP delayed in naming its candidate as it could not decide between Parrikar’s son Utpal and Kuncalienkar. Utpal was initially expected to be the BJP candidate. However, at almost the eleventh hour the party changed its mind and named former MLA Kuncalienkar as candidate.
The party had sent both the names were sent to BJP Parliamentary Board who picked Kuncalienker for the seat, which he had in past won twice.
“From day one I had said that I’ll work for the candidate decided by the party. My name was sent to central leadership because of some workers,” Utpal said after Kuncalienkar was named as candidate.
He added, “The Assembly seat was held by my father for over 25 years, so it’s important to retain the seat.”
Parrikar represented Panjim since 1994, except between November 2014 and August 2017. He had last won an election from the seat in the 2017 by-polls, defeating Girish Chodankar of Congress with a margin of 4000 votes.
