Deepa got a whopping 838 votes and won by a margin of over 200 votes. The ‘Baba’ (Digambar) aura continues to shine on in Margao. BJP candidate stood second followed by the Shadow Council for Margao candidate who failed to breach the three-figure mark.
The counting, which began at 8 am, was a mixed bag of confidence, emotion and compassion with a pinch of vengeance. However, the former ward 21 councillor Damu Shirodkar received a boost after getting his wife elected by a huge margin.
Of the total 1574 votes polled, Deepa managed to get 50 percent votes in her favour. Deepa got 868 votes while BJP’s Sucorina Fernandes managed 630 votes. Meanwhile, the Shadow Council for Margao candidate Sonali Kale failed to even breach the three-figure mark and could garner only 76 votes.
In a booth wise break-up, Deepa has been consistently ahead of her opponents with 347 to 283 in booth 1, 356 to 173 in 2 and 265 against 174 of the BJP candidate.
After winning the polls, Deepa said, “I thank all my ward people, especially the women, who worked with me for the election. I will work to make my ward the most beautiful and best ward in the MMC.”
Expressing his happiness over Deepa’s win, Margao MLA Digambar Kamat said, “There was no dispute on her victory and I have already told that in this ward we have been winning for the last 15 to 20 years purely on performance and the love of Aquemkaars”.
“I thank the women of the ward for working tirelessly and they have shown the women power in this ward. I had already said and we have done it, we have won the ward with a higher margin then the last time round,” he added.
The Shadow Council for Margao, while congratulating Deepa for her success, said they humbly accept the verdict of the people.
“While we had been in the fray for the bye-elections with the garbage fees as our main issue, the support we have received compels us to accept that this is not an issue for the people at all. Sometimes, what one feels is an issue, may not be an issue to others. This is what we have realised,” Savio Coutinho of SCM stated. “We will continue to serve the people of Margao in the best possible way,” he added.
