BJP wins Mormugao taluka, but loses sizeable vote share

BJP candidate Pallavi Dempo along with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and MLA Sankalp Amonkar during campaigning in the Mormugao taluka.

Photo Credits: File photo

VASCO
The Congress retained its South Goa seat but for the people in Mormugao, history was created as their son of the soil, Captain Viriato Fernandes, became the first MP of South Goa to be elected from the taluka.

On the other hand, the BJP may have secured a lead in Mormugao taluka but the party will be disappointed over the loss of a sizeable vote share in comparison to its performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP had always been leading in Mormugao taluka in recent times, but the results were different this time with a significant slide in its margin of voters, this despite the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s lone public address in the State was in Mormugao taluka.

While Mormugao Taluka managed to give the BJP a lead of 6,097 votes, the lead was a significant drop as compared to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, all four constituencies had BJP MLAs, with two ministers Mauvin Godinho and Milind Naik and two MLAs, Carlos Almeida and Alina Saldanha. The BJP had managed to secure a lead of 10,157 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

This time around, only the Vasco constituency led by MLA Krishna Salkar managed to increase the lead by a slender margin of around 207 votes between the two LS elections.

Significantly, the BJP’s lead dropped in Dabolim and Mormugao constituencies while the BJP took a dip in the Cortalim constituency, represented by Independent MLA Anton Vas who was supporting the Government, with the Congress lead rising from 84 votes in 2019 to 1,923 votes in 2024.

Turning point in Mormugao Taluka

The tactic of the BJP to rope in opposition leaders and bury political differences on the eve of elections appears to have backfired for the party as it only created confusion in the minds of people and increased the percentage of silent voters in the taluka.

Mormugao Taluka has been a very sensitive vote bank for political parties and three constituencies of Dabolim, Vasco and Mormugao have witnessed a battle of archrivals on a one-to-one basis for the last 15 years.

While Salkar managed to win the Vasco constituency by defeating Carlos Almeida, both leaders have their own set of supporters who have even fought against each other for the sake of their leaders.

Same is the case in the Mormugao constituency, which also has dedicated voters and supporters for both Sankalp Amonkar and Milind Naik. Dabolim Constituency also has a dedicated set of supporters for Captain Viriato Fernandes and Mauvin Godinho.

However attempts by the BJP to rope in Carlos Almeida and his councillors from Vasco, bury the political rivalry between Naik and Amonkar in the Mormugao constituency or get supporters of Permanand Nanoskar and supporters of Captain Viriato Fernandes into the BJP worked against the party, which may have led to anger among voters who had fought against each other for the sake of the leaders shifting from one party to another.

Attempts to align rival leaders on one platform damaged the party in Cortalim as well as it reflected the strategy to ignore loyal karyakartas for the sake of neo karyakartas leading to the downfall of the party.

These moves only worked against the party and led to a rise in silent voters who made their thoughts clear through their ballots.

Mauvin wins battle in Dabolim

While Congress candidate Captain Viriato Fernandes won the Lok Sabha Elections, Mauvin Godinho managed to retain his supremacy in the Dabolim Constituency by providing a lead to the BJP.

While the Lok Sabha elections in the South were contested across 20 constituencies, all eyes were on Dabolim Constituency. the home ground of Captain Viriato Fernandes, but represented by his archrival and Panchayats Minister Mauvin Godinho.

Captain Viriato Fernandes and Mauvin Godinho had recently contested the assembly elections against each other but Godinho had managed to win the elections and retain his seat in Dabolim Constituency

It was being said that both Godinho and Fernandes would once again flex their muscles to gain votes to showcase their supremacy in the Lok Sabha battle.

While Minister Mauvin Godinho had predicted Captain Viriato Fernandes would face a double defeat with Dabolim providing lead to the BJP, Capt. Viriato managed to win the MP elections but Godinho won the mini-battle against Capt. Viriato in Dabolim for the second consecutive time.

Incidentally, Capt. Viriato’s victory at the South Goa Lok Sabha election could well be a blessing in disguise for Mauvin. The victory of Capt. Viriato in the Lok Sabha Elections and his shift to central politics has effectively eliminated a tough opponent for Mauvin in the Dabolim constituency.

With archrival Viriato out of the Dabolim constituency, Godinho may enjoy a free hand till such time that Congress manages to find an alternative. This will be a tough task for the Congress to get a formidable candidate who can compete with Godinho in the Dabolim constituency.

Foe-turned-friend helps Captain in Vasco

The saying ‘there are no permanent enemies or permanent friends in politics’ came true for the Congress in Vasco when archrivals Jose Philip D'Souza and Captain Viriato Fernandes joined hands as part of the INDIA bloc and D'Souza managed to almost single-handedly get 9,923 votes for the Congress.

D'Souza supervised the entire elections in Vasco, held several corner meetings for the Congress and prevented a major lead from the Vasco constituency moving towards the BJP, especially after BJP managed to rope in Congress leader and ex-MLA Carlos Almeida along with his panel of municipal councillors.

The efforts of Jose Philip D'Souza were significant especially after Vasco MLA Krishna Salkar had expressed confidence that BJP would poll around 17,000 votes in the Vasco constituency.

Uniting political rivals did not benefit BJP

The BJP’s gamble to import Congress leaders or bring together political rivals did not benefit the part in Vasco constituency.

The BJP had roped in former MLA Carlos Almeida, who had contested the last assembly elections on the Congress ticket and had hoped that archrivals Krishna Salkar and Carlos Almeida would bury the hatchet just before the LS elections.

With this move, the Congress was effectively left with no leader in the Vasco constituency. But BJP’s move did not benefit the party despite roping in Almeida and his councillors into the BJP.

Similarly, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had personally met former BJP minister Milind Naik who was upset after archrival Sankalp Amonkar had been taken into the BJP after his defeat in the 2022 assembly elections.

After discussions, Sawant had said Naik and all his seven councillors would work for the BJP in the Mormugao constituency but that failed as well. There were allegations that former party leaders and some councillors had worked to promote the Congress candidature in the Mormugao constituency.

A similar attempt was made in the Cortalim constituency where former Sarpanch Ramakant Borkar and Sancoale acting Sarpanch Girish Pillai (who contested as independent against MLA Anton Vas) was roped into the BJP at the last moment. However, sources said this led to an internal rift within the Cortalim BJP Block, with some accusing BJP loyalists of working in favour of the Congress.

Former Sarpanchas and social workers from Congress-dominated Bogmalo area were also brought into the Mauvin Godinho camp, but their entry did not make any significant effect on the BJP’s vote share in the Lok Sabha elections from Dabolim constituency

Amonkar gets lead but misses target in Mormugao

Mormugao MLA Sankalp Amonkar's personal connect with voters managed to fetch a lead of around 2,000 votes for the BJP from the Mormugao constituency but he failed to achieve his self-declared target of securing 80 per cent of the vote share for the BJP.

While Amonkar along with his supporters carried out extensive door-to-door campaigns with the BJP manifesto, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had personally visited the Mormugao constituency for a public meeting in Baina to dispel any confusion over the symbol in the minds of voters who have always voted for Amonkar on his previous Congress party.

Many openly alleged that some former BJP leaders and some municipal councillors had worked in favour of the Congress and even enticed voters to ensure that Amonkar would not achieve his target of an 80% vote share for the BJP.