POLL TAKEAWAYS
ON THE LOSING SIDE
- Outgoing chairperson Simon Rebello was defeated by Dayanand Pagui
- Prominent Congressmen and first CMC chairperson Rajendra Dessai also tasted defeat
- In Ponsulem, BJP's block president Vishal Dessai lost to former BJP karyarkarta and rebel Shamsunder Dessai
+
CANACONA
It was mixed celebrations at Canacona Municipal Council (CMC), after the BJP-backed panel failed to get a clear majority in the civic polls when counting took place on Tuesday.
The shocking result was the defeat of outgoing chairperson Simon Rebello, while a bitter tussle for Chaudi ended with BJP conceding defeat by a margin of just four votes, the least losing margin with as many as 11 invalid votes.
While the winning candidates and supporters took out victory rallies in and around Chaudi ward, police had a tough time to control traffic along the NH17 road passing through busy Chaudi town and other internal narrow roads of municipal wards.
Ward 1 (Nagarwarcem) candidate Hemant Kumar Naik Gaonkar was the first result to be declared, where prominent Congressmen and first CMC chairperson Rajendra Dessai was defeated by 97 votes.
Soon to follow were Chaudi and Mastimoll, where winning margins were announced as 4 and 14, and both the nearest losing candidates asked for recounting. Chaya Komarpant (281) emerged winner by defeating BJP-backed Perpetual Jacques (277). With four other candidates, Sandra Fernandes (54), Supriya Naik (44), Gopika (14) and Bhagyashri (21) sharing the spoils, 11 votes were declared as invalid at Chaudi, playing a major role in BJP losing the seat.
After recounting, winning margin of Kishore Shet (423) rose to 16, while Pandurang N Gaunkar (407) and the man to play the spoilsport was Divakar Dessai (150).
BJP got an unusual shock at Ponsulem, where its block president Vishal Dessai (203) lost to its former Karyarkarta and rebel Shamsunder Dessai (314).
In Ward 6, Samita Dhuri (412) stumped BJP-backed Sarika (369) by 52 votes.
However, BJP pulled out a splendid win at Ward 7 (Patnem), where Maruti (509) upset Ashok Pagi (308).
At Sawantwada, Nitu Dessai (527) who polled highest number of votes in CMC got the better of Akshada Bhagat (295), the nearest contestant among two others.
Dayanand Pagui (358) pulled off the major upset of CMC polls by defeating outgoing chairperson Simon Rebello (317) by a margin of 41 votes.
In Ward 10 (Palolem-II), Divakar Pagi (452) ensured BJP doesn't get to even a simple majority by defeating Laxman Pagi (345) by 107 votes as third candidate Deepak Komarpant polled 35 votes.
