Goa: Assembly elections
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2017
Congress 17/ 40 seats, BJP 13
Despite a strong proModi sentiment in most of the five states that went to the polls, BJP found itself faltering in Goa as Union defence minister and former CM Manohar Parrikar failed to pull off a 2012 encore for the party.Congress has emerged as the single largest party , winning 17 of the state's 40 seats, while BJP has won 13.
After the results came in, both the national parties were trying to stitch together a coalition with smaller parties and Independents. Ramkrishna `Sudin' Dhavalikar's Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and Vijai Sardesai's Goa Forward party (GFP) hold the key to government formation, having won three seats each. Also important are the three Independents -Prasad Gaonkar (Sanguem), Congress-supported Rohan Khaunte (Porvorim), and BJP-supported Govind Gaude (Priol).
Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh, who is in Goa, said the party would stake claim to government formation, and was waiting for a positive response from the Independents and regional parties. The party is just four seats shy of a simple majority in the House. “The meeting with the elected MLAs was supposed to be held on Saturday but because the results were declared late, we have postponed our meeting to 11am on Sunday . Once the Congress Legislature Party is formed, we will meet the governor and stake claim to form the government,“ Singh said. While Singh accepted that the party was in talks to form a coalition, he refused to specify the terms and conditions of the negotiations.
Sources said Khaunte and MGP were most likely going to ally with Congress.
Congress members seem averse to an alliance with GFP, especially on account of the vitriolic statements made by Sardesai against the Congress brass in the run-up to the elections. A decision on Congress' possible chief ministerial candidate is also likely to be taken on Sunday . There are indications that former Goa CM Digambar Kamat may be tasked with the post once again.
Saffron emergency
Feverish discussions were also under way within BJP on Saturday , with the party core committee convening an emergency meeting after results for discussions on how to form the next government in the state.
At the meeting, it was decided that BJP should hold negotiations with MGP and GFP to make it past the halfway mark in the assembly .BJP has won 13 seats and one Independent supported by the party has won too.
BJP national president Amit Shah as well as former Goa CM and Union defence minister Manohar Parrikar expressed confidence on Saturday that the saffron party would assume office in the state for a second consecutive term.
“We will definitely get in touch with them (MGP and GFP) as no one has got a clear mandate. BJP won the largest voteshare (32.5%),“ Parrikar said at a press conference. He is also said to have shown “high interest“ in returning to the state and assuming charge as CM in case the party manages to put together a coalition. Another option on the table, offering the CM post to MGP's Ramakrishna `Sudin' Dhavalikar, with BJP offering “outside support“, has met resistance within BJP.Some BJP members believe the party should take the lead in government formation. Deputy CM Francis D'Souza may be BJP's second, and only , choice for CM in case it forges an alliance but wants to retain Parrikar at the Centre.This because at least a dozen senior party members lost their seats.
Debutant distressed
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has drawn a blank on its electoral debut in Goa. The party's state convener Elvis Gomes said AAP would continue to build itself in Goa, adding, “Within the short span of time that was available to us (for 2017 polls), we couldn't do as much as we would have liked.“
An assembly of football enthusiasts
Churchill Alemao's return to the Goa legislative assembly from Benaulim was cheered by the state's growing fraternity of football lovers, and he marked his win by announcing free entry for Sunday's crucial I-League clash between his team, Churchill Brothers SC, and Shillong Lajong FC at the Tilak Maidan in Vasco.“All our fans and those who support football in general must come to the stadium. Entry will be free,“ Alemao told TOI on Wednesday.Alemao's passion for football is well documented, but he is not the lone new Goa legislator with a love for the sport. Aldona MLA Glen Ticlo, a former state footballer, takes deep interest in the Goa Football Development Council (GFDC) while Canacona MLA Isidore Fernandes, who represented Goa in the 1973 National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy in Kerala, is an avowed football fan . Other football enthusiasts in the Goa assembly include St Andre MLA Francisco Silveira, Filipe Nery Rodrigues (Velim) and Clafacio Dias (Cuncolim).
2022
The results
Vijay de Souza & Murari Shetye, March 11, 2022: The Times of India
From: March 11, 2022: The Times of India
From: [ The Times of India]
See graphic:
The results of the elections held in 2022 for the legislative assembly of Goa
Panaji:Successfully beating anti-incumbency and overcoming resentment and rebellion, BJP reached the halfway mark in the 40-member Goa assembly on its own and is just one short of a majority. This is BJP’s second highest number of seats in Goa’s political history. The party is all set to form the government for the third consecutive term in the tiniest state. In 2012, BJP led by Manohar Parrikar had won 21 seats in Goa, its highest ever tally. This election also saw AAP and Revolutionary Goans (RG) open their account with two and one seat, respectively, while debutant TMC drew a blank. A division of votes between TMC, AAP and RG led to the defeat of Congress in many constituencies, reducing its strength to 11 MLAs. While BJP’s performance by way of seats jumped from 13 to 20, its vote share went up by only 0. 8 percentage points — from 32. 5% in 2017 to 33. 3%. On the other hand, Congress’s vote share dropped from 28. 5% to 23. 5%.
Three Independents who got elected — Chandrakant Shetye (Bicholim), Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco (Curtorim) and Antonio Vaz (Cortalim) — have all extended support to BJP, state party president Sadanand Shet Tanavade said. Goa’s oldest regional party MGP, which won two seats, will also be part of the new government, BJP’s Goa election in-charge Devendra Fadnavis said. “MGP has given a letter of support to BJP,” he said. Fadnavis said the BJP legislature party meeting was likely to be held on Friday to select the leader. “BJP wants its national leaders to attend the swearing-in ceremony and after coordinating with other states, dates would be finalised for organising it,” he said. The election also proved chief minister Pramod Sawant’s leadership abilities and his coming out of former CM Parrikar’s shadow. His gamble of betting on winnable candidates by importing them and dropping some of the sitting MLAs in their favour paid off, as was evident in Mayem, Pernem, Sanvordem and Vasco. Congress, which was confident of making a comeback after a decade of being out of power, suffered a major setback and was relegated to the second position. In 2017, it had secured 17 seats but had failed to form the government and saw 13 of its MLAs join BJP.
“Congress seems to have failed to project itself as a formidable and best alternative to oust the BJP government. Also, it was not aggressive in its campaign to fight BJP in the last couple of months,” said a political commentator. MGP, which was posing it- self as a kingmaker and had a pre-poll tie-up with TMC, suffered a setback as it had to be content with just two seats and former deputy chief minister Ramkrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar’s vow of this being a ‘parivarthan’ election failed to find any takers. For the first time in nearly three decades, BJP went to polls without its master strategist Parrikar and the campaign was managed by the central leadership. Union home minister Amit Shah went on door-to-door campaign in seats that appeared to be slipping away. PM Narendra Modi also addressed a rally in Mapusa, providing a booster dose to BJP karyakartas.
AAP
Lisa Monteiro, March 11, 2022: The Times of India
Panaji: After drawing a blank in 2017, the Aam Aadmi Party opened its account in the Goa assembly with two seats in 2022. Merchant navy captain Venzy Viegas won on debut in Benaulim, while Cruz Silva, an engineer, won the Velim seat. Viegas defeated veteran Churchill Alemao in a contest that was billed as a clash between David and Goliath in Benaulim, while Silva did another giant-killing act as he put it across two former MLAs, Filipe Nery Rodrigues and Benjamin Silva, besides Congress candidate Savio D’Silva. Many political experts had made Viegas the favourite in Benaulim. Even at the zilla panchayat elections in 2020, AAP won its first and only seat in Benaulim. When votes for the 2022 state assembly elections were counted on Thursday, Viegas brought cheer to the AAP camp as he won by 1,271 votes against Alemao, a fivetime legislator and former chief minister. In Velim, Silva won by a narrow margin of 169 votes against Velim sarpanch and Congress’ Savio D’Silva. While Viegas and Silva triumphed in Benaulim and Velim, there was embarrassment elsewhere. Contesting from Santa Cruz, AAP’s chief ministerial candidate Amit Palekar finished third with 4,098 votes. The party’s state convenor Rahul Mhambre also fared badly with 1,511 votes, coming in third and losing his deposit.
Revolutionary Goans
28-yr-old ‘revolutionary’ pips 4-time MLA
Defying all assumptions about its prospects in Goa’s polity, Revolutionary Goans (RG) party made a rather impressive entry. In a single stroke, its 28-year-old candidate Viresh Borkar defeated BJP’s four-time MLA Francis Silveira in St Andre seat, while in several constituencies, RG candidates, all of them first-timers, even out-performed AAP contestants, reports Bindiya Chari. Borkar, who won the St Andre seat by a wafer-thin margin of 76 votes, said that unlike other parties, RG fought the elections without money and muscle power. In Nuvem, the RG candidate was the runner-up.
