MARGAO: Another big victory for Congress was the lead they secured in Quepem constituency. While the INDIA Bloc candidate Captain Viriato Fernandes polled 12,721 votes, BJP’s candidate Pallavi Dempo polled 11,937, giving the Congress candidate a lead of 784 votes.
In many ways, this was considered as a litmus test for Quepem Congress MLA Altone D’Costa who had previously staged a major upset in the State Assembly election when he defeated the former Deputy Chief Minister and BJP MLA Chandrakant ‘Babu’ Kavlekar.
While in the past, Babu used to win from Quepem with huge margins as the Congress MLA, he tasted defeat at the hands of D’Costa, who was contesting the 2022 Assembly elections for the first time.
Since then, Kavlekar has often chided D’Costa trying to play down that victory and has even taunted D’Costa to prove that he can be a ‘giant killer’ again.
The victory of Congress helps strengthen D’Costa’s foothold in Quepem, although the margin was quite slender, which is something the party will have to address for the next State Assembly elections.
Moreover, this defeat of the BJP in Quepem is expected to fuel the recent controversy that had erupted just after election day on May 7, when Sanguem BJP MLA Subhash Phal Dessai had alleged that former Quepem MLA Chandrakant ‘Babu’ Kavlekar had worked against the BJP. This led to counter statements being made not just by Kavelkar, but also his wife and supporters, who had rejected Phal Dessai’s allegation.
Phal Dessai and Kavlekar have an old rivalry from the 2022 Assembly elections when Phal Dessai defeated Babu Kavlekar’s wife Savitri, who had contested for the Sanguem Assembly seat as an independent after she was denied the BJP ticket.
Furthermore, Kavelkar was an aspirant for the BJP’s South Goa Lok Sabha ticket, which went to Pallavi Dempo, and was reportedly upset about the snub.
