the goan I network
CORTALIM
The votes were heavily divided among the six main candidates, all of whom secured a large number of votes.
Alina Saldanha polled 5666 votes, followed by independent candidate Antonio Vas (5148) who came a close second. Other candidates who polled a large number of votes included Gilbert Mariano Rodrigues of Congress (4326), Nelly Rodrigues of Goa Vikas Party (3380), Alina’s nephew Olencio Simoes of Aam Aadmi Party (2482) and Ramakant Borkar of United Goans Party (1708).
The other candidates who made insignificant impact were Sharan Meti of Goa Su-Raj Party (258), Miguel Rodrigues (177), Suman Sharma of MGP (75) and Gilroy Costa of Goa Praja Party (56). NOTA votes were pegged at 210.
Alina’s win comes as a major surprise and proved poll surveys wrong which had scaled down her chances of a victory.
When asked whether she felt that a lead of 500 votes was good enough considering the work she had brought about in the constituency, Alina said: “I had not thought of the lead, but had only prayed to God to help me win if it was His will.”
To a question as to whom she credited her victory, Alina replied: “I first owe my victory to Goa, my workers, sympathisers and my late husband Matanhy Saldanha, who has been guiding me from above.”
With her victory, Alina stands to again qualify as a minister if the BJP can form the government in the state, since Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar at one of the meetings in Cortalim had told the people that ‘by electing Alina, you are electing a minister’.
