PANJIM: As Panjim votes on Sunday, will Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) dent the Congress tally in the State Capital? While the party now claims otherwise, past performamce shows differently.

In 2017, Atanasio Monserrate, contesting on the United Goans Party ticket had lost by a margin of just 1069 votes. The winner Sidharth Kuncalienker of BJP had secured 7924 while Monserrate had polled 6855 votes. Interestingly, at that election Valmiki Naik of AAP who finished third polled 1944 votes, and the argument was that many of these votes were those which otherwise would have gone for Congress.

Later the same year, when Manohar Parrikar contested, AAP had stayed away. On August 3, 2017, AAP announced its decision to pull out of the by-polls, calling it a “politically prudent” move, and stating that it had taken the decision to avoid confusing the electorate.

A statement released by the party had then said that its ‘alternative brand of politics had not been not endorsed by the Goan electorate in the February 2017 polls and that it is preparing at the grassroots level for the next general elections’.

The party had declared that the primary cause of this pragmatic withdrawal was to avert division in the secular votes and to present clear choices to the electorate.

So what made AAP contest the election in 2019, where the secular vote is also in danger of being divided by its presence? While the party has been denying that it is the B-Team of BJP, their presence in the fray leads to many raised eyebrows, as every vote to the Arvind Kejriwal-led party would be a plus to the saffron brigade.