MAPUSA/PORVORIM
In a one-sided contest, the BJP won the Reis Magos Zilla Panchayat bypoll in North Goa hands down, but the biggest takeaway from the election was that the Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) proved its mettle yet again by gaining the second position while Congress finishing at the bottom of the table.
Sandeep Bandodkar of the BJP trounced his nearest rival and RGP-backed candidate Sainath Korgaonkar by a wide margin of 4,244 votes.
The Independent candidate supported by AAP, Rajesh Dabholkar, was in third position polling 1,091 votes while Congress candidate Pragati Pednekar finished last, polling just 509 votes.
From the first round itself, the counting indicated the trend with the BJP candidate gaining a lead of over 1,000 votes against his nearest rival which only widened further as the counting progressed.
If at all there was a fight, it was between the RGP and the Independent candidate for the second and the third position.
Congress was never in the race and fared very poorly in the final analysis.
Saligao MLA Kedar Naik credited the victory of the BJP ZP candidate to the sarpanchas, panchayat members and the BJP karyakartas who worked tirelessly during the campaign.
“Each person has contributed to this victory. All this has happened with the blessings of CM Pramod Sawant and State BJP president Sadanand Tanavade who guided us in the election,” Naik said.
He also said that he did not distinguish his supporters on party lines but the result was the fruits of respect earned from the people in the constituency.
“I never say Congress or some other party. They have all worked for us. When they work for me, they are my people,” he said when questioned whether Congress workers backed the BJP candidate on the sly.
Naik, however, expressed displeasure at the shrill campaign carried out by the RGP against him during the campaign.
When contacted, Bandodkar attributed his success to the BJP karyakartas.
“The BJP karyakartas worked tirelessly to get me elected. If the voter turnout was higher, I would have won by a bigger margin. Saligao MLA Kedar Naik also assisted me in campaigning, which is why he won the election by a convincing margin,” said Bandodkar.
RGP leader Rohan Kalangutkar informed that the time for the campaign during the election was too short and they could not reach out to a lot of people.
“Despite shortcomings, we have done quite well but we expected to do much better. Next time we will move door to door and explain to the people. We also need to build our team,” Kalangutkar said.
Independent candidate Rajesh Dhabolker thanked those who voted for him.
