MAPUSA: The Congress candidate for Mapusa, Sudhir Kandolkar lost the by polls by a slender margin of 1151 votes on Thursday.
While BJP’s Joshua D’souza retained the seat his late father, Francis D’souza held for over two decades. Joshua drew 11,167 votes against Kandolkar’s 10,016 votes.
While addressing media, Kandolkar highlighted that the money factor played a major in the defeat of Congress in Mapusa. He also thanked the people of Mapusa for giving him around 10,000 votes.
“The mandate swayed in favour of the BJP due to the money factor and also due to the strong campaigning carried out by them in most of the wards. The Congress booth level management is not strong which cost the party heavily in Mapusa. Most of the councillors from Mapusa also supported Joshua in their respective wards. When it came to campaigning, my rival candidate Joshua D’souza got good support from the party. The Chief Minister himself came to Mapusa and campaigned with him door-to door,” said Kandolkar.
“He got support from BJP MLAs and the councillors campaigned for him in most of the wards to ensure his victory in the constituency. The assurances given during the campaigning were also important factors, which led to his victory. This election has shown that I have a chance to win in the future,” he added.
