MARGAO
The BJP has suffered yet another setback in Navelim constituency when the party-backed candidate lost the bye-election for the Aquem-Baixo village panchayat.
In the by-poll for Ward no 6 of the Aquem-Baixo village Panchayat, Anthony Vaz defeated BJP-backed Pradeep Verlekar by a huge margin of votes..
Verlekar’s defeat assumes significance given that BJP Navelim MLA Ulhas Tuemkar and the party organisation had rallied behind him in the bye-poll. In fact, in the election held on Sunday, MLA Tuemkar along with BJP workers were seen around the polling booth in support of the party-backed candidate.
The by-poll was necessitated following the resignation of Panch member representing ward No 6 Danny Fernandes after his election as member of the South Goa Zilla panchayat from Davorlim constituency.
Incidentally, Danny had defeated the BJP candidate Satyavijai Naik in the December 2025 Zilla Panchayat polls.
Meanwhile, the election of the Panchayat member for ward No 6 has paved way for the election of a new Aquem-Baixo Sarpanch. Outgoing Sarpanch Danny Fernandes had quit the post after his election as the Davorlim ZP member in the December 2025 ZP polls. Since then, the post of Sarpanch has been lying vacant, throwing up questions over the delay in holding election for the vacant post in the last two months.
