TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: The ruling Alliance suffered a major blow in minority Salcete in the Zilla Panchayat polls with Independents reigning supreme in the taluka where as many as nine seats were at stake.
Of the total nine seats, as many as six Independent candidates emerged triumphant, leaving the Alliance stranded midway which had to be content with only three seats. As many as five candidates, either fielded or backed by the GVP, BJP and MLAs Caitu Silva and Benjamin D’Silva bit the dust. GVP won two while BJP managed to win just one. The GVP suffered a major setback when its candidate lost the Nuvem seat, where Mickky Pacheco had made the contest a matter of prestige against friend-turned-foe Wilfred D’Sa.
The ruling Alliance began on a winning note, winning the two seats of Raia and Davorlim in style, but was left stranded as results poured in from the remaining constituencies. GVP candidates Nelly Rodrigues and Fatima Gaunkar won from Colva and Raia constituencies respectively. The GVP, however, lost Curtorim and the high profile Nuvem seat. Similarly, though the BJP won the Davorlim seat, taking advantage of a split in the Opposition vote, the party lost the Guirdolim constituency to a candidate fielded by Clafacio Dias and backed by Congress MLA Babu Kavlekar.
More trouble was in store for the Alliance Independent MLAs as counting progressed at the South district Collectorate. Benaulim MLA Caitu Silva backed candidate Honey D’Costa was defeated in Benaulim by former ZP Chairperson Maria Rebello by a comfortable margin of 2170 votes. Similarly, the candidate backed by Velim MLA Benjamin D’silva, Pedrinha Cardozo lost to Mancy Rodrigues by a margin of 2474 votes. Mancy is the sister-in-law of sitting ZP member Anthony Rodrigues, and who had the backing of former MLA Filipe Neri Rodrigues.
Former South Goa Zilla chairperson, Clafacio Dias won the Curtorim seat with a huge margin of 4518 votes, the highest in Salcete. The icing on the cake came for Clafacio when Minaxi Gaonkar backed by him won the Guirdorlim seat against the BJP as well as the candidate backed by former Cuncolim MLA Joaquim Alemao. The Guirdolim constituency comprises of most of the villages of Cuncolim constituency, where BJP’s Lotus had bloomed in the 2012 Assembly polls.
