Team Herald
MARGAO: The Assembly election results clearly indicate that the minority community’s honeymoon with the Bharatiya Janata Party is over and that BJP’s Manohar Parrikar can no longer mesmerise them as the Congress while retaining the two seats it won in 2012 wrested back four others to emerge victorious in six of the eight constituencies in the Salcete taluka.
Congress candidates Digambar Kamat and Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco retained the Margao and Curtorim seats respectively where they won with comfortable margins.
The two seats that it lost were in Fatorda where Goa Forward Party candidate Vijai Sardesai who had contested the 2012 elections as an independent was re-elected and Benaulim where Churchill Alemao won as the Nationalist Congress Party candidate.
Incidentally, Benaulim has been considered to be Churchill’s backyard as he or his nominee has been elected from here numerous times. In fact, his brother Joaquim Alemao made his debut in politics by getting elected to the Goa Legislative Assembly from Benaulim after Churchill vacated the seat on being elected as Member of Parliament.
However, in 2012, Churchill’s daughter Valanka had contested as a Congress candidate from Benaulim and suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Goa Vikas Party candidate Caetano alias Caitu Silva who fared quite badly at these elections which he had contested as an Independent candidate.
Goa Congress Pradesh Committee President Luizinho Faleiro wrested back the Navelim seat to the Congress after a gap of 10 years. At the 2007 elections, Luizinho, the Congress candidate was defeated by Churchill Alemao contesting as a Save Goa Party candidate. In 2012, Churchill, a Congress candidate, lost to an Independent candidate Avertano Furtado, who lost this time to Luizinho.
Nuvem is the other constituency where Congress has romped home after five years as its candidate Wilfred alias Babashan D’Sa defeated Goa SuRaj Party nominee Francisco alias Mickky Pacheco. Incidentally, Mickky had won the 2012 elections as Goa Vikas Party candidate defeating the Congress nominee Aleixo Sequeira who was a minister then.
The Congress candidate in Cuncolim Clafacio Dias won the seat by a whisker defeating rebel candidate Joaquim Alemao by a mere 33 votes and that too after a recount was sought. In 2012, when Joaquim Alemao was the Congress candidate, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Subhash alias Rajan Naik won thanks to a division of votes by John Monteiro who had contested as an Independent. This time, Congress won the seat even though rebel member Joaquim came quite close to upsetting its applecart.
In Velim, Filipe Neri Rodrigues wrested back the seat to the Congress defeating Benjamin Silva who was once again contesting the elections as an Independent candidate. At the 2012 elections, it was Benjamin, contesting as an Independent candidate who had defeated Filipe Neri Rodrigues.
