MARGAO
Aam Aadmi party’s rise in Salcete in the 2020 Zilla Panchayat polls had seen the downfall of the Congress party from its pre-eminent position in the minority dominated taluka.
Against the backdrop of AAP’s decision to go solo in the 2025 ZP polls, the Congress leadership will have to re-work strategies how to stop the AAP juggernaut in Salcete and ensure the party wins most of the seats from Salcete if the party nurses any hopes to regain its hold over the South Goa Zilla Panchayat.
Consider this. In the 2020 ZP polls, the Congress could win barely three out of the nine seats at stake from Salcete. Reason: The Aam Admi Party managed to make deep inroads in the Congress bastion, opening its account in Benaulim, but ended up in spoiling the Congress party in at least three other seats.
A glance at the 2020 ZP election results would show that the Aam Aadmi Party emerged as a new political force in Salcete. Fighting for the same non-BJP, secular space, AAP spoiled the Congress party in at least three seats in Salcete, reducing the main opposition party presence in its stronghold.
In fact, besides wining Benaulim, AAP made significant presence in as many as five other seats, namely Nuvem, Raia, Guirdolim, Curtorim and Colva. The party’s presence made a big difference for the Congress and its fortunes, especially in Colva, Raia and Guirdolim.
In Colva, the Congress lost the seat to the NCP by a thin margin of 75 votes after the AAP candidate in the fray polled around 1,431 votes, leaving the Congress candidate stranded midway.
The Congress also lost the Guirdolim seat to the BJP by a margin of 593 votes after the Aam Admi Party candidate polled close to 1,000 votes, around 996 votes to be precise.
Take note, though the Congress had won the Curtorim and Nuvem ZP seats with ease, the Aam Admi Party had heralded its arrival in these two seats too.
