The fate of the Panjim big wigs was sealed on Sunday and now the stage is set for them to find out how luck dealt them a hand. Out of the 30 wards of the Corporation of the city of Panjim, there are at least 6 or 7 wards that align more with the Bharatiya Janata Party led Panjim First panel and Babush Monserrate’s Panjim City Corporation Development Front (PCCDF). The voting for the CCP was held on Sunday with a total voter turnout of 74 per cent. Out of the 31,648 qualified voters in the capital city, only 23,675 turned up to cast their votes to elect 30 candidates from the 95 who were in the fray.
This election is also a testing time for Panjim MLA, Siddharth Kunkolienkar who has faced a backlash ever since his name was nominated for the Panjim bypoll elections. Former Panjim MLA and Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar and Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar are unhappy with Kunkolienkar’s arrogance and attitude towards BJP’s prominent leaders from Panjim. Some of the rebels even filed nominations against BJP candidates in a few wards of the CCP.
Dhond decided to contest from the BJP panel for the first time in the CCP elections and that too against a strong and seasoned councillor in Surendra Furtado.
There are 640 voters in ward number 10, in which only two candidates were in the fray. The winning candidate has to secure 321 votes for victory. Monseratte as well as the BJP have campaigned strongly in this ward to secure it by defeating the opposition.
Ward 9 which was represented by Surendra Furtado’s wife, Ruth in the last two tenures, this time faces a three way fight. Ruth, backed by the Babush panel, Edgar Antonio Gaspar, backed by the Congress’ United Panjim Front panel and Shantaram Naik, backed by the BJP are in contention.
In ward number 5, Sheetal Naik, wife of Dattaprasad Naik, president of the Taleigao BJP Mandal (who had contested the last assembly election against Monserrate’s wife, Jennifer who lost by a small margin) is in a straight fight with Bento Silvestre Lorena, backed by Monserrate. For both, Monseratte and Dattaprasad Naik, this ward is important due to their political rivalry.
In ward 12, Manoj Patil, a BJP rebel contested against BJP backed Vaidehi Naik after joining hands with Babush. During the last election, Patil was in the BJP camp. Winning this ward is a matter of prestige for the party in power.
Ward no 11 saw a straight fight between Monseratte backed Soraya Pinto Makhija, sister of former coporator and deputy Mayor of the CCP, Kabir Pinto Makhija, and BJP backed Bharti Heble.
In ward no 14, Lata Yatin Parekh, the wife of another former deputy Mayor, Yatin Parekh goes into a three way fight against the BJP backed Suraiya Naik and Independent Nacima Shaikh. Parekh was a Congress candidate in the 2012 Assembly election and fought against Parrikar.
Finally, in ward no 27, former Mayor, Shubham Chodankar is up against rebel Devendra Kundaikar who secured the support of the Babush panel in a bid to get one up over the current Mayor.
Sources in the BJP have indicated that if the BJP panel wins with a majority, then Shubham will continue as Mayor. Hence, winning this seat will be crucial for the party in power. But Babush Monserrate may just have some other plans.
