PANAJI
Swimming against the anti-incumbency tide the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant beat almost all pre-poll and exit poll predictions and won 20 of the 40 seats results of which were declared on Thursday afternoon.
The showing is almost equal to its best electoral performance in Goa ten years ago when it had bagged 21 seats and it is now only a matter of time before the Goa BJP meets Governor Sreedharan Pillai to formally stake claim to form the next government which they are expected to do on Friday.
On the other hand, it was a disappointing day for the Opposition Congress, which seemed upbeat on the basis of exit poll predictions, going into the counting process. But as counting progressed, the grand old party was in for a rude shock as the results lagged it far behind winning just 11 seats. Its junior partner the Goa Forward Party (GFP) won the Opposition alliance's twelfth seat that of the latter's supremo Vijai Sardesai (Fatorda).
The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) which until before counting began on Thursday morning was harbouring hopes of notching at least half-a-dozen seats ended up with a disappointing tally of just two seats -- that of its supremo Sudin Dhavalikar (Marcaim) and Mandrem which was won by Jeet Arolkar.
The MGP finished runner-up in four other seats -- Pernem, Bicholim, Ponda and Priol. In three of these the margins were wafer thin, particularly in Ponda where its candidate Ketan Bhatikar fell short of the BJP's Ravi Naik by just 13 votes.
The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won two seats -- Captain Venzy Viegas in Benaulim and Cruz Silva in Velim. However, its Chief Ministerial face, Amit Palekar lost from St Cruz, pushed to the third position.
The newbie in the ring, Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) won one seat, Viresh Borkar winning from St Andre and three others were bagged by Independents -- Dr Chandrakant Shetye (Bicholim), Antonio Vas (Cortalim) and Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco (Curtorim).
The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress which led a high decibel campaign powered by celebrated political strategist Prashant Kishore-led I-PAC drew a blank despite it having fielded political heavyweights like former chief minister Churchill Alemao and former MLAs Kiran Kandolkar and Benjamin Silva.
The results surprised almost every analyst and pundit besides leaders of political parties as most exit polls had projected a badly fractured mandate but the electorate had other ideas, it turns out.
In several constituencies the margin of votes separating the winner from the runner-up was extremely thin, Ponda being the smallest difference of just 13 votes.
It was the only constituency where recounting was held after MGP's Ketan Bhatikar formally applied for a recount. There was however no difference and BJP's Ravi Naik was declared winner by the returning officer.
Applications seeking recounting in two constituencies -- Velim and Navelim -- was rejected as it did not conform to ECI guidelines and rules.
The next lowest victory margin was 76 votes of RGP's Borkar in St Andre. AAP's Silva won by just 169 votes in Velim against Congress' Savio D'Silva.
Among the big-margin winners were BJP's Deviya Rane who won with the highest vote difference of 13,943 votes separating her from her closest rival AAP's Vishwajit Krishnarao Rane.
The second highest victory margin of 9,963 votes was recorded by Sudin Dhavalikar of MGP in Marcaim followed by Health Minister Vishwajit Rane in Valpoi (8,083 votes) and BJP's Porvorim candidate Rohan Khaunte (7,950 votes).
Both the outgoing Deputy Chief Ministers -- Chandrakant Kavlekar and Manohar (Babu) Ajgaonkar -- were shown the door by the electorate as were several other MLAs, including Churchill Alemao, sex-scandal tainted Milind Naik, Clafasio Dias, Glen Ticlo, Alina Saldanha, Carlos Almeida, Wilfred D’Sa, Filip Neri Rodrigues, Prasad Gaonkar, Isidore Fernandes, Deepak Pawaskar, Jayesh Salgonkar and Francisco Silveria.
