The two-term Navelim Zilla Panchayat (ZP) member and independent candidate Edwin ‘Cipru’ Cardozo valiantly fought the challenge from three national parties – Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Aam Admi Party (AAP) creating a hat-trick and thereby retaining his seat in the South Goa district ZP.
One of the reasons for Cardozo’s victory is the fact that the unassuming Navelim ZP member Cardozo continues to maintain his grassroots level contact with his voters, besides having undertaken development works in his constituency during his tenure despite criticism from his political rivals.
Congress candidate and the former Goa Pradesh Mahila Congress Committee (GPMCC) president Adv Pratima Coutinho was initially reluctant to contest the Navelim ZP by-polls. However, the party leaders like the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) President Girish Chodankar and the Congress High Command convinced her to be the Congress candidate for the Navelim ZP by-poll and the ‘loyal Congress female warrior’ obeyed their instructions.
A member of the State Congress Committee, found this explanation a little confusing. “This ZP by-election took place because Babush Coelho our candidate passed away before the elections. The ticket should have gone to his son Eldrich who was interested in contesting. In fact he contested the panchayat elections and won. No one in the party, least of all the Navelim MLA and former Chief Minister was aware, when Coutinho’s name was considered. It just shows the level of transparency and team work in our party. Coutinho lives here but what has she done in Navelim? She was a voter in Margao.”
Pratima prefers ‘broom’ to ‘hand’
Coutinho does have political ambitions. But aspirations do not account for ability.
After leaving the Congress on Friday and joining the Aam Aadmi Party within hours, she now hopes to contest the assembly elections and Navelim would certainly be on her wish list
A resident of Dongorim-Navelim, Coutinho had served a term as the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) vice-chairperson when her husband and former MMC chairperson Savio Coutinho was unable to contest from his stronghold of Calcondem ward as it was reserved for women candidates. Though Coutinho transferred her name as a voter in the electoral rolls from Margao to Navelim assembly constituency, the Navelim ZP voters questioned her credentials in the constituency. Despite Coutinho staging several protests and agitations on various issues across the length and breadth of Goa her charisma failed to win her the required votes to emerge winner.
However, after her ZP electoral debacle, an upset Coutinho alleged that the local MLA and former CM Faleiro did not campaign for her with Faleiro claiming that he had been summoned by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) interim president Sonia Gandhi to campaign for the ongoing assembly polls in Kerala.
Benaulim NCP MLA Churchill Alemao, who was the former Navelim legislator, too, backed his staunch supporter Cardozo angering Coutinho who further alleged that Faleiro and Alemao had struck a deal to ensure her defeat in the hope of ending her political career.
However, the internal sabotage theory needs to be proven and tested. Faleiro did send pictures of him campaigning with Coutinho. There is a point made by some Congressmen that the 2500 odd votes she got could not have been due to her own accord.
Interestingly, both Cardozo and Coutinho hail from the same Dongorim ward in Navelim with the former having his stronghold in Mandopa and Moddi wards in Navelim while Coutinho relied on the Congress voters in Sirlim-Dramapur, Sarzora, Telaulim, besides the Coldem, Dialgona, Fradilem and Nagmoddem wards in Navelim.
Meanwhile, the AAP candidate and Belem-Navelim resident Matilda Silva ensured a sizeable vote share emerging a close third in the quadrangular contest with the BJP candidate Satyavan Naik taking the last spot in this minority dominated constituency.
Silva a novice with nerves of steel
A political novice, Silva conducted a vigorous campaign especially in the Navelim ZP areas of Sirlim-Dramapur and Sarzora that lie within the Velim assembly constituency represented by the local Congress turned BJP MLA and Water Resources Minister Filipe Neri Rodrigues. Probably expressing their ire against the constant political defections by their Congress legislator Rodrigues, the voters from these areas decided to shun Congress and vote AAP instead, attracted by the issues being raised and development report presented of the Delhi AAP CM Arvind Kejriwal. The irony is that the Congress candidate decided to shun the Congress too.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a resident of Sinquetim-Navelim divulged that “Cipru has generated a lot of goodwill while the voters are fed up of the BJP and Congress resulting in Cipru winning his hat-trick!”
Simple Cipru simply too good
Agreeing with Cardozo was the former Navelim sarpanch and panch member Frank Fernandes who said, “Cardozo is a very simple man and is always approachable by his voters. Hence, the voters decided to re-elect him. Voters are also unhappy with the functioning of Congress and BJP in Goa. Thus, decided to dump these two national parties.”
Former sarpanch of Sirlim-Dramapur and Congress RTI Cell chairman Domnic Noronha quipped, “People are making their choices based on the confidence they feel in the candidate. But speaking as a Congressman, it is very important that a voter understands the reason for voting people to power.”
Therefore, Cardozo’s victory is very significant and a bitter pill for the national parties to swallow as the emergence of independents in Goa’s political arena is only going to further increase in the forthcoming elections due to the public disenchantment with BJP and Congress, besides the growing factionalism within these parties resulting in political defections.
