MARGAO
Aam Aadmi Party’s splendid performance in Benaulim literally dampened the spirt in the Nationalist Congress Party camp as the party won the Colva Zilla Panchayat by a whisker, by around 75 votes to be precise.
Even before the authorities took up counting of votes of Benaulim ZP seat, party MLA Churchill Alemao rushed to the counting centre to congratulate Vania Baptista for winning the Colva seat though by a whisker. So confident was Churchill of winning the Benaulim seat that the MLA said he did not simply ask for 20 seats if the Congress was keen for a tie-up with the NCP in the 2022 Assembly election.
The Benaulim MLA also took potshots at Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat for moving around in the two constituencies of Benaulim and Colva, and hastened to add that he had immense trust in the people that they would stand by him in both Benaulim and Colva.
Just when the NCP and Churchill’s trusted workers were anxiously waiting for the Benaulim result, came the shocker that the party is trailing behind the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party in Benaulim in round one.
Moments later, the supporters of the Benaulim MLA appeared crestfallen as news trickled in from the counting centre that AAP’s young candidate Hanzel Fernandes is marching ahead towards victory.
While NCP victory in Colva constituency may have left the party workers in a jubilation mode, the loss in Benaulim may call for introspection in the Benaulim MLA’s camp as Churchill’s candidate Menino de Bandar was left trailing behind the Congress in the three-cornered contest.
While Hanzel had polled 3071 votes, Congress candidate Royla Fernandes had polled 2617 votes. NCP’s Menino de Bandar polled 2489.
In Colva, the NCP won the seat by a wafer-thin margin of 75 votes. In the three-cornered contest, NCP’s Vania Baptista polled 3168 votes as against 3093 votes polled by Congress candidate Suzie Fernandes. Aam Aadmi Party candidate Aishwarya Fernandes polled 1431 votes.
The Colva constituency comprises the villages of Colva and Seraulim in Benaulim Assembly constituency and Betalbatim and Majorda in Nuvem Assembly constituency.
While the NCP is believed to have led over the Congress in Seraulim, the Congress got the better of the NCP in Colva village.
Churchill thanked the voters of Seraulim and Colva as well as voters of Betalbatim and Majorda for rallying behind Vania to give the NCP a victory in the Colva seat.
Vania also thanked the people of the constituency for giving her the mandate in the election, promising to fulfill their expectations.
