SHWETA KAMAT
shweta@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The season of elections seems to be unending for Panjimites, as the State Capital braces up to face its seventh election in less than seven years. Following the resignation of Sidharth Kuncalienker, the constituency will have its fourth Assembly election (by-poll) soon, to elect their new representative in the State Assembly.
The election trend for Panjim commenced in March 2011, when the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) went to the polls. In a hard-fought poll, the Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate panel scraped through to with a wafer thin majority of 16 in the 30-ward corporation. On the other hand, Panaji First, the BJP-backed panel won 12 seats while two independents – Surendra Furtado and his wife Ruth – retained their seats as Independents.
Within 12 months, Panjimites cast their vote to elect their MLA. The State Assembly elections held on March 3, 2012 saw incumbent Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar retaining the seat for the fifth consecutive term. He defeated Congress’s Yatin Parekh with a margin of over 5,000 votes.
BJP’s 2012 election campaign led by Parrikar saw the saffron party win with a majority of 21 seats in the 40-member State Assembly. Along with alliance partners, BJP formed the government with 26 seats in the Assembly.
However, even before Parrikar could do much for his voters, he was handpicked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to join his Union cabinet as Defence Minister. Parrikar resigned as Chief Minister on November 8 and as MLA of Panjim on November 20, paving the way for by-elections, and creating a vacuum in the State BJP.
A few months earlier, Panjim had voted in the Lok Sabha polls, where BJP’s Shripad Naik had won the election yet again.
On February 13, 2015, in the Panjim by-polls, BJP retained the seat, with its candidate Sidharat Kuncalienker defeating Congress candidate Surendra Furtado.
The election fever did not abate as the five-year term of the City civic body ended in 2016, and polls were held in March of that year. Congress and BJP entered the battle field with their respective panels, and Monserate again managed to sweep the polls winning 17 seats, including two Independents. BJP was once again forced to sit in the opposition.
Even before Panjim voters could put the Corporation election fever behind them, preparations began for the Assembly elections, and on February 4, Panjimites voted for Kunkalienker again. Interestingly, during the campaign for the 2017 Assembly polls, the BJP Central leadership had hinted at the possible return of Parrikar to head the Goa government after the election, so the possibility of a by-election was always there.
As the party failed to gain a majority and five of its ministers, including the Chief Minister, were defeated, BJP brought back Parrikar to head a coalition government, and he needed a constituency to enter the Assembly.
Kuncalienker, who resigned on Wednesday is a close aide of Parrikar, and has remained merely a custodian of the constituency. A by-poll will be held in the coming four months by September.
