Team Herald
PANJIM: A total of 28 candidates including two women, are in the fray for the upcoming general elections for two Lok Sabha seats and by-polls in three Assembly constituencies.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, Maharashtrwadi Gomantak party (MGP), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Shiv Sena, Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM), Republic Party of India and Independents, will fight it out for five seats- two Parliamentary constituencies- North Goa and South Goa and three assembly constituencies- Mandrem, Shiroda and Mapusa.
The voting will take place on April 23 between 7.00am to 6.00pm. The counting is scheduled on May 23.
Rakhi Naik of Shiv Sena, who is contesting from South Goa Parliamentary seat and Aishwarya Salgaonkar an Independent from North Goa seat, are the only two women candidates in fray.
On Monday, the last day for withdrawal, Independent candidate from Mandrem- Mukti Arolkar and Forward Democratic Labour Party candidate Harishchandra Naik from Shiroda withdrew their nominations.
For Lok Sabha, there are total 12 candidates, six each in North and South Goa constituencies. BJP has fielded its sitting MPs- Shripad Naik in the North and Narendra Sawaikar in the South as it aims to retain both the seats. The 2019 LS election is the fifth parliamentary polls, in a row, that Naik is contesting on.
The ruling party will have to battle it out against Congress’s Girish Chodankar in the North and former MP Francisco Sardinha in the South. While Chodankar is contesting his first ever LS polls, Sardinha has been an MP in three terms that started in 1998, 2007 (by-poll) and 2009 respectively.
The AAP has also fielded its candidate Elvis Gomes (South) and Pradeep Padgaonkar (North).
The upcoming by-elections are crucial for the BJP-led coalition government to ensure its stability. With 14 MLAs, including two who had split with MGP and merged, BJP is looking forward for victory in all three assembly segments, in a bid to take its tally to 17.
There are seven candidates in Mapusa, five in Shiroda and four in Mandrem assembly constituency.
Mapusa assembly constituency where elections were necessitated due to the demise of former BJP MLA Francis D’Souza, has his son, Joshua filing candidature on the BJP ticket; while Congress has fielded popular local political face and BJP rebel Sudhir Kandolkar against him. AAP, GSM and Independents are also in fray.
In Shiroda, which was ruled by Congress in 2017 polls, will see a tough fight, as BJP and its former ally MGP, both fielding candidates. While BJP has fielded former MLA Subhash Shirodkar, MGP has its president Deepak Dhavlikar in fray along with Congress’ Mahadev Naik, a former MLA. Here too, GSM and AAP have their candidates.
Similarly in Mandrem Assembly Constituency, there is former MLA Dayanand Sopte of BJP, whose resignation from Congress, necessitated the election, while Congress has fielded its leader Babi Bagkar. There are two independents.
