PANJIM:
The Congress in Goa made a remarkable comeback after their horrendous defeat in
the 2012 polls. Till 2pm, the Congress was ahead having won 13 seats against the
ruling BJP’s 11 victories.
GPCC
president Luizinho Faleiro led the Congress charge winning the Navelim seat by
a margin of 2400 against former minister and independent candidate backed by
BJP, Avertano Furtado. Leader of the Opposition Pratapsingh Rane won from Poriem
defeating BJP’s Vishwajit Krishnarao Rane by a margin of 4000 votes.
While
BJP suffered defeats and the Congress regained lost ground, the major surprise
came from Goa Forward, whose candidates won in Fatorda, Sailgao and Siolim.
In
North Goa BJP suffered a severe setback with four ministers facing defeats
including Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, Forests Minister Rajendra Arlekar,
WRD Minister Dayanand Mandrekar and Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar.
In
a major embarrassment to the BJP, Parsekar lost to Congress’ Dayanand Sopte by
a huge margin of 7219 votes. Also, Mandrekar lost to new entrant Goa Forward
Vinod Palyelar by 1441 votes from Siolim.
Dy
Chief Minister Francis D’Souza, who won by a margin of over 7000 votes from
Mapusa against MGP’s Vinod Phadke, said that Parsekar’s loss will be assessed
by the party.
In
South Goa Churchill Alemao made a stunning comeback with a victory margin of
5191 against Royla Fernandes of AAP. In Taleigao, Congress’ Jennifer Monserrate
retained her seat by winning against BJP’s Dattaprasad Naik with a margin of
2800 votes.
In
another stunner, MGP’s Deepak Pauskar won the Sanvordem seat from BJP’s Ganesh
Gaonkar by 2500 votes.
In
the narrowest victory margin, the Congress’ Cuncolim candidate Clafacio Dias
was declared winner by 33 votes against Independent Joaquim Alemao after a recount.
According to the final tally, Dias polled 6352 votes
while Joaquim polloed 6329.
In
Ponda, Congress’ Ravi Naik won by 1100 votes against BJP’s Sunil Desai. In
Sanguem Independent candidate Prasad Gaonkar won against sitting MLA Subash
Phaldesai, while in Mormugao, Power Minister and BJP candidate Milind Naik won
by slender margin of 138, with Congress Sankalp Amonkar coming second.
In
Sanquelim, Pramod Sawant won by defeating Congress’ Dharmesh Sanglani by 2131
votes, while at Dabolim, former Congressman who contested on the BJP ticket
Mauvin Godinho won by 2494 votes against MGP’s Premanand Nanoskar.
In
Priol, it was BJP-backed independent Govind Gaude who stunned MGP State
president and sitting MLA Deepak Dhavalikar by 4686 votes. Dhavalikar said the
BJP and Congress worked together for his defeat
As
expected, BJP’s Michael Lobo retained Calangute defeating Congress’ Joseph
Sequeira by a margin of 4000 votes. He got over 11 000 votes while Congress
scored 7000. BJP’s Pandurang Madkaikar won with a margin of 7000 votes from
Cumbharjua.
In
Panjim, sitting MLA Siddharth Kunkaliencar pulled off a thrilling win over
United Goans Party candidate Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate, who was supported by
Congress.
In
another shocker, BJP’s Rajesh Patnekar won by a margin of 734 votes against
favourite Naresh Sawal of MGP, who resigned as independent ahead of polls.
At
the time of going to press, Sudin Dhavalikar was leading in Marcaim by over
6000 votes.
