PANAJI
The results of the just concluded Goa legislative assembly elections in as many as 10 assembly seats indicates that the contest was extremely tight and victory margins were in just the hundreds and in a couple of cases two-digit.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, his Cabinet colleague Nilesh Cabral, veteran Ravi Naik, former minister Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate and former minister Govind Gaude were some of the bigwigs from the saffron camp who won by narrow margins.
But the smallest margin of just 76 votes was in St Andre, the lone seat won remarkably by debutant Viresh Borkar of the nativist Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP). Borkar had just 76 votes separating him from the outgoing legislator of multiple terms Francis Silveira of the BJP.
Borkar polled 5,395 votes against Silveira's 5,319.
In Ponda, veteran Ravi Naik was another who made it to victory by a 77-vote margin. Naik bagged 7,514 votes and just 77 votes ahead of his nearest rival Ketan Bhatikar of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) who got 7,437.
In Bicholim, eye surgeon, Dr Chandrakant Shetye, who contested and won as an Independent, secured 9,608 votes, a tally which was just 318 votes more than the 9,290 votes polled by his nearest rival and ex-MLA Naresh Sawal fielded by the MGP.
Another contest which grabbed much attention was the one in Panaji where the sitting MLA Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate was fielded by the BJP and was challenged by Utpal Parrikar, the son of former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.
Monserrate was stretched to the limit and won by a margin of just 716 votes. He polled 6,787 votes while Parrikar Jr, who had quit the BJP to contest as an Independent, bagged 6,071 votes.
Chief Minsiter Pramod Sawant was another bigwig whose nerves must have been tested to the limit in the counting hall. Trailing for much of the early rounds of counting in Sanquelim, Sawant eventually won by a 666-vote margin over the Congress candidate Dharmesh Sanglani.
Sawant's final tally was 12,250 votes as against the 11,584 votes polled by Sanglani.
The battle between the BJP's Govind Gaude and the MGP president Deepak Dhavalikar in Priol was another one that went down to the wire. Gaude won by just 213 votes bagging a tally of 11,019 votes as against Dhavlikar's 10,806 votes.
In Velim, fate smiled on debutant Cruz Silva one of the two victors from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). While Cruz bagged a tally of 5,390 votes which was just 169 votes more than the 5,221 votes polled by the Congress candidate Savio D'Silva.
In Curchorem, just 673 votes separated the winner, Power Minister Nilesh Cabral and his Congress challenger Amit Patkar. Cabral notched up 9,973 votes while Patkar got 9,301.
Navelim was another constituency where the margin of victory was thin. The seat was won for the first time by the BJP with its candidate Ulhas Tuenkar garnering 5,168 votes which was just 430 votes more than the tally of TMC candidate Valanka Alemao.
In Mandrem, MGP's Jeet Arolkar got his debut win with just a 715 vote margin over outgoing legislator of the BJP Dayanand Sopte.
