Team Herald
PONDA/MARGAO: The MGP fought a fierce battle at the Shiroda by-poll and lost it by a whisker of 76 votes.
The Shiroda by-poll had attracted a huge interest from the very beginning as coalition partners in the government – BJP and MGP – locked horns to gain the seat.
The MGP’s Deepak Dhavalikar faced a veteran of nine electoral battles in Subhash Shirodkar who resigned as sitting Shiroda MLA and joined the BJP necessitating by-election to that seat.
According to election observers, Shirodkar’s personal contacts with the voters, the Bhandari and Catholic, factors worked in his favour. Shiroda Constituency has around 14,000 Bhandari voters and 7,000 Catholic voters. And according to poll observers, most of these votes were polled in favour of Shirodkar.
Besides, Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude managed to convince most of the 3,000 ST voters to cast their franchise in favour of Shirodkar.
Adding to this, is the ferocious campaign launched by the BJP by roping in the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Union Minister Nitin Gadakari.
Even former MGP MLA Lavoo Mamledar campaigned against his own party nominee. Despite all these odds, Deepak put up a stiff fight and lost the seat by a whisker. Even Subhash Shirodkar reacting to his narrow win said, “It’s God’s wish and before Him nobody can do much.”
Congress candidate Mahadev Naik who was banking on split in votes to win the seat, failed to get even the Congress vote share.
The Dhavalikar brothers were hoping to capitalise on the developmental works done by them in the constituency. However, their dividend fell short of giving them victory.
The narrow victory margin caused some tense moments with rumours that Deepak has asked for a recount doing the rounds. However, Deepak did not ask for a recount and was seen asking his supporters to maintain calm and peace as the battle was running neck and neck.
What is significant to note is that the BJP and Congress candidates for Lok Sabha election polled more votes than the same party candidates for the Assembly by-polls. The BJP polled 14,545 votes for the Lok Sabha and the Congress polled 8,233 votes thus establishing that MGP did play a significant role in this constituency.
The winning candidate Subhash Shirodkar said he did not expect such a close fight from the MGP and thanked his party workers for the victory along with some Congressmen who voted for him even though he had changed the party.
“I am thankful to all the ministers specially the Chief Minister, Govind Gawade and Nilesh Cabral who made this victory possible,” he said adding that his priority will be development of the constituency.
Replying to a question he said his victory proves that “defections” is an issue raked up by elitist sections of society but for the common man that is not an issue at all.
Deepak Dhavlikar expressed surprise over his defeat as he was confident of a victory, but pointed out that he had given a good fight to the BJP and said the struggle will continue. “BJP used money power extensively that I could not compete with and hence these results,” he said.
He however refused to comment on future plans stating that he has to come to terms with the results first and said the party will meet shortly to discuss all matters including supporting the BJP government or joining hands with the Congress.
