PANJIM: The fate of 685 candidates in the fray in 159 wards of 11 municipalities will be known on Tuesday. Four civic bodies in North Goa and seven in South Goa went to polls on Sunday. The counting will take place at the respective district administration offices. Counting will commence in the morning and a clear picture will emerge by afternoon.
The results of the election will tell whether the people continue to have faith in the BJP. The party is viewing this election as a semi-final before the 2017 Assembly elections. BJP is confident of wresting a majority in at least nine of the 11 municipalities to which polls were held.
The elections passed off peacefully, except for a couple of minor incidents including the stoning of Margao MLA Digambar Kamat’s office. There was a fairly good turnout of 72.53 per cent casting their franchise as compared to 62.38 per cent in the 2010 polls.
Prarthana Naik Goankar, who contested from ward 5 of Canacona Municipality has been declared elected unopposed.
While BJP has fielded candidates in all 11 municipalities, without entering into an alliance with MGP, Congress has not extended support to any candidates. However, its MLAs have fielded their panels.
The Zilla Panchayat elections held earlier and which were fought on party lines, had failed to give clear mandate to the BJP, who with the support of independent candidates had managed to have their candidates elected to the adyaksh and upadyaksh posts in both districts.
