BJP’s strong bid to storm Digambar Kamat’s stronghold at Moti Dongor went haywire once again in the just-concluded election for the Margao civic body.
The election result, however, should also cause some concern for the five-time Margao MLA as well. Though the migrant-inhabited hillock stood by Digambar’s candidate, Sharada Prabhudessai, in Ward 18 by giving her a huge lead, the migrant voters also gave a decisive lead to MMC chairperson Arthur D’Silva, which in the ultimate analysis helped him defeat the Margao legislator's candidate, Damu Shirodkar, in the neighbouring Ward 22.
A glance at the poll result showed that the BJP could not change the ground reality atop Moti Dongor. Contrary to expectations that the BJP will put up a good show this time around with the support of the leaders of the migrant community, the ground reality, however, was different. Take the case of Ward 18 where the Moti Dongor vote plays a major role in the fate of the candidates. Though the BJP nominee, Kanchan Kavlekar, led in one booth by a mere nine votes, Sharada got an overall lead of 143 in two booths housed atop the hillock.
In the neighbouring Ward 22, Digambar’s candidate could not take a lead in the lone booth from the Moti Dongor area which has a total 809 electorate. Arthur managed to outwit the Margao MLA by taking a 55-vote lead against his candidate Damu Shirodkar, in the process proving a point or two to both Kamat and the BJP leadership that he could storm the fort in his own way despite not hailing from the area.
When 'The Goan' contacted the Margao MLA to shed light on the poll result, he expressed his satisfaction over the polling trend.
“In the Lok Sabha election, the BJP gained a sizeable lead from Moti Dongor. Now, my candidate Sharada has won from Ward 18. As far as Ward 22 is concerned, a lot of factors might have been responsible behind giving the 55-vote lead to Arthur. I am confident that residents of Moti Dongor will stand by me in the Assembly poll,” Kamat said.
BJP Margao block President Chandan Nayak, said that the party leadership made a determined bid to win from Moti Dongor, but in vain.
“Our candidate from Ward 18 took a lead in one of the two booths, but it was not enough to take an overall lead from the hillock. As far as Ward 22 is concerned, people know how the voters have cast their vote. I need not tell what happened in Ward 22,” Chandan said, while reminding that the BJP had polled 65 per cent of the vote from Moti Dongor in the 2014 Lok Sabha poll.
