Team Herald
PANJIM: After leads kept oscillating through the early morning, at the time of going to the press, Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as the single largest party in Goa, far ahead of the Indian National Congress. Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party had a strong showing, while Aam Aadmi Party opened its account in the State as did Revolutionary Goans Party, while Trinamul Congress did not win a single seat. Independents were ahead in three seats.
Counting started in the morning with Congress taking the lead in early rounds, but the situation changed later, as BJP surged forward as it managed to overcome the anti-incumbency sentiments to forge ahead of the other parties. The BJP was close to a simple majority by Round 6 of the counting as it was leading in 20 constituencies, while the Congress and its ally Goa Forward were ahead in 12 constituencies.
The MGP-TMC partnership was leading in two constituencies, AAP in two constituencies and Revolutionary Goans had opened its account with a win in St Andre constituency.
BJP is thus poised to form a government for the third consecutive term.
Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant retained the Sanquelim seat, though in early rounds he had been trailing. Both deptuty chief ministers – Chandrakant (Babu) Kavelkar and Manohar (Babu) Ajgaokar lost to Congress candidates.
Sawant has won from Sanquelim for the third time. Sawant, who maintained a stoic silence minutes before the counting began at Polytechnic College, Altinho, was trailing till the third round of counting. The margin between him and that of Congress’ Dharmesh Saglani was 400 to 700 but the CM bounced back and was leading by 386 votes after Round 7 of counting.
“This is the victory of the people of Sanquelim and Goa,” Sawant said as the counting centre echoed with victory slogans by a huge bunch of karyakartas and polling agents.
Ministers Nilesh Cabral, Mauvin Godinho, Jennifer Monserrate, Vishwajit Rane were in the winning list. So also, former ministers Govind Gaude, Subhash Shirodkar, Ramesh Tawadkar, Rohan Khaunte also won the mandate of the people.
The biggest setback of the day was that both deputy chief ministers Manohar Ajgaonkar and Chandrakant Kavlekar facing defeat. Kavlekar had to bite dust in his home Quepem constituency where he was defeated by a new comer Altone D’Costa of Congress.
Ajgaonkar, who had shifted from Pernem to Margao lost to Leader of the Opposition Digambar Kamat, who won the seat for a record eighth time in a row.
In BJP’s stronghold Panjim, it’s candidate Atanasio Monserrate did not let the party down. However, his victory margin against Utpal Parrikar, son of former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar was very low compared to earlier years. This definitely did not go down well with Monserrate who did not hesitate to blame BJP Karyakartas for working against him.
“BJP karyakartas have not accepted me and Jennifer into the party. They worked against both of us. I never expected the small margin of victory. The BJP did not do anything to make us win. We won because of our own workers,” Monserrate said, as he came down heavily on the party as well.
Utpal, who gave a tough fight to Monserrate, was also disappointed with his defeat.
Former Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar also had to face defeat. Parsekar, confident of his victory by a huge margin, had contested as an Independent after the BJP denied him a ticket from Mandrem constituency.
Sopte, BJP’s winnable candidate from Mandrem lost to new comer Jot Arolkar, a MGP candidate.
In Poriem constituency where Vishwajit Rane’s wife and Congress veteran Pratapsingh Rane’s daughter-in-law, Divya Rane contested, she won in her first attempt. The BJP leader said it was the lead of the people, and the love of people. “This is not my victory but people’s victory. It is the faith that people of Sattari have shown on me and Vishwajit. Sattari has always been our family. This victory lead is beyond expectation,” Divya Rane said, as she led by thousands of votes since the start of the counting.
In South Goa Salcete results came in early, with former chief minister and Congress candidate Digambar Kamat winning his Margao seat for the 8th time. In Benaulim, former chief minister and TMC nominee Churchill Alemao lost to AAP candidate Capt Venzy Viegas. The big surprise was in Navelim, where BJP pulled off a victory, after which Congress nominee Avertano Furtado sought a recount. In Fatorda BJP candidate Damu Naik sought counting of VVPAT slips, after GFP’s Vijai Sardesai emerged with the highest votes in the constituency.
