The Congress party has not won the Panjim seat for the past 20 years, most of its candidates being routed by BJP’s Manohar Parrikar. They came close just twice – once when Ramesh Silimkhan was the party candidate and the other time when Dinar Tarcar got the Congress ticket.
Now with Parrikar out of the fray, Congress is scenting the chance of a victory.
Though no party has announced its candidates, Siddarth Kuncoliencar is the frontrunner for the BJP ticket. St Cruz Congress MLA Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate is the only person to have announced his intention to contest the bye-election.
Though the BJP has started its election campaign and Monserrate is scheduled to start on December 8, Congress is grappling with its candidate and has neither booth committees nor block representatives in place.
