CANACONA
With not a single candidate withdrawing from the race on Monday, voters in the Canacona constituency will now have to select from a record eight candidates in the fray for the first time in over three decades.
The eight candidates in the fray are Isidore Fernandes (Independent), Ramesh Tawadkar (BJP), Vijay Poi Khot (Independent), Adv Anoop Kudtarkar (AAP), Janardhan Bhandari (Congress), Mahadev Dessai (TMC), Kanaya Pagi (Independent) and Prashant Pagi (RGP).
The symbols allotted to the three independent candidates are Isidore Fernandes (Rickshaw), Vijay Poi Khot (Helicopter) and Kanaya Pagi (Pen Nib with Seven Rays).
Voters will have a long list of candidates to choose from for the first time since the 1989 assembly elections when Canacona was bifurcated into two constituencies of Canacona and Poinguinim.
It was during the 1989 assembly elections for the Poinguinim constituency that the highest number of candidates had contested in an assembly election in Canacona taluka.
As many as nine candidates -- three from parties and six Independents -- had contested in the Poinguinim constituency.
During those elections, Vasu Paik Gaonkar of the Congress had emerged victorious, defeating Shiv Sena candidate Govind Acharya and seven others, which included one from Gomant Lok Pokx and 6 Independents.
Isidore Fernandes had first contested elections as an Independent in 1994, while Vijay Poi Khot contested elections for the first time in 1999 and Ramesh Tawadkar in 2002. Both Poi Khot and Tawadkar had contested on the BJP ticket. Incidentally, all three candidates lost their first assembly elections.
