While the BJP got into a huddle in introspection of the Lok Sabha results and the factors that led to their loss in South Goa, the INDIA bloc broke into celebrations with Capt Viriato Fernandes likening to the Opposition leaders as the five Pandavas that defeated the 15 Kauravas in South, in an apparent reference to the BJP leaders. The South Goa contest was the biggest test of the Opposition unity because on paper the BJP appeared far stronger having representation in most constituencies.
The result has rejected politics of defection, and if poll statistics are to go by, all three turncoats in Salcete ” Digambar Kamat, Aleixo Sequeira and Sankalp Amonkar failed to make significant gains to prove their credentials for the saffron party. It was evident, that although leaders have changed parties, the ground workers have not switched sides, and in the South, the trend was clear that voters have largely rejected politics of defection.
The Lok Sabha election became a testing ground for the BJP to not only feel the pulse of the electorate vis-a-vis votes but to understand the psyche of workers well ahead of the 2027 assembly elections. The Lok Sabha result may not have a direct connection to the voting at the Assembly level, and a lot many factors could be different, including the localised candidates and issues, but this election will help parties to reassess turfs, vis-a-vis leaders.
The INDIA bloc, which showed tremendous teamwork at the hustings, will face a different set of challenges when it comes to Assembly elections given the multi-dimensional battle. The coalition worked in Goa because the landscape was larger and allies did not have the bandwidth to connect to the electorate across the district. The working of such coalitions becomes tricky in Assembly elections, especially in smaller states like Goa.
While Congress has tasted victory in the South after being propelled by its allies, in the North nothing went their way as party candidate Ramakant Khalap failed to garner even the votes polled by his predecessor Girish Chodankar in the 2019 election. The sad irony for Congress is that it has failed to look beyond Salcete, and it is unfortunate that this time the party leant backwards on a forgotten veteran to take the poll battle forward in North Goa.
The BJP, however, showed bravado in the South by fielding a woman candidate in Pallavi Dempo, despite the party having two other candidates ” Chandrakant Babu Kavlekar who had the outreach needed for the poll, and former MP Narendra Sawaikar. The Congress, although showed courage in the South by benching sitting MP Francisco Sardinha and giving the ticket to former navy man Capt Viriato, never showed the guts to experiment in the North. The BJP worked in perfect unison for a landslide victory for Shripad, but the Congress lacked the resources and reach to back Khalap. It appeared that the party had already conceded defeat and was going through the motions.
Lastly, the result may have shown the Revolutionary Goans Party finishing a poor third with a marginal decline in the overall vote share. However, there are big takeaways for the regional force who showed verve and firepower to take on the big stage. In South Goa, the RGP candidate polled 18,679 votes against the winning candidate’s 2.15 lakh votes, and the North candidate got 45,744. In the South, the party has made inroads into the hinterland areas while in the North there has been a decent share of the vote across the district. For a regional party which is still in its nascent stage, these votes may not fetch them wins, but they should give them the confidence to take the electoral journey forward.
