Civic polls: Sawant, Ravi panels decimated

jor setback to Sakhali's BJP MLA and Speaker Dr Pramod Sawant, whose panel could only win three seats.
While the two other independent candidates have pledged their support to Saglani, Dr Sawant was undeterred by the results and claimed his panel could still rule in the council.
For SMC Chairman Dharmesh Saglani, it was a second successive victory for his panel in the SMC polls, while it was a major setback for Speaker and local MLA Dr Pramod Sawant, whose panel could only win in 3 of the 13 wards.
The 'Together for Sakhali' panel winning the elections were Dharmesh Saglani, Jyoti Blagan, Kunda Madkar, Asnira Khan, Raya Parsekar, Damodar Ghadi, Brahmanand Desai and Shubada Sawaikar.
The BJP-backed candidates who won were Rajesh Sawal, Anand Kanekar and Dayanand Boryekar, while the winning independent candidates were Rashmi Desai and Yeshwant Madkar.
Counting of votes began on Monday morning as per the schedule and first results came in by about 9.30 am.
It was a setback for the BJP, especially since South Goa MP Narendra Sawaikar along with BJP General Secretary Sadanand Tanawade had been actively campaigning for the BJP-backed candidates.
Such was the intense campaigning between the BJP-backed panel and the 'Together for Sakhali' panel, that a tough fight and a close contest had been predicted at the SMC polls.
However, the results proved that the BJP-backed panel was no match for the 'Together for Sakhali' panel.
Meanwhile, all winning candidates from Saglani's group along with two independent candidates, Rashmi Desai and Yeshwant Madkar met Congress leader and Poriem MLA Pratapsing Rane at his residence in Kulan-Karapur.

MGP falls short of majority
in Ponda; Cong bites dust

SHOCKER FOR
RAVI NAIK >>
TOTAL WARDS: 15
MGP PANEL: 7
BJP PANEL: 5
CONG PANEL: 3
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PONDA: The MGP affirmed its supremacy at the Ponda Municipal Council (PMC) polls, but narrowly missed taking control of the council on its own, when its panel won in seven of 15 wards, leaving the BJP panel with 5 wards and Congress panel a distant third with 3 wards, delivering a major setback for Congress leader and Ponda MLA Ravi Naik.
Councillors Shantaram Kolvekar, Vishwanath Dalvi, Venkatesh Naik and Geetali Talaulikar were back for another term, while the wives of of outgoing councillors, Shivananad Sawant and Vincent Paul Fernandes, also got elected.
Pradip Naik, who had lost the 2013 election, was back again as councilor, while the most of the other winning candidates are new faces.
The winning candidates from the MGP-backed Rising Ponda panel were Virendra Dhavlikar (Ward 2), Yatish Savkar (Ward 3), Pradeep Naik (Ward 8), Seema Fernandes (Ward 9), Jaya Sawant (Ward 12), Amina Naik (Ward 13) and Geetali Talavlikar (Ward 15).
The winning candidates from the BJP-backed panel Ponda Nagarik Samiti were Archana Naik Dangui (Ward 1), Chandrakala Naik (Ward 4), Venktesh Naik (Ward 5), Vishwanath Dalvi (Ward 7) and Shantaram Kolvekar (Ward 10).
The Congress-backed panel Ponda Citizen Progressive Front had only three winning candidates, William Aguiar (Ward 6), Ritesh Naik (Ward 11) and Anand Naik (Ward 14).
The fourth panel, Swabhimani Fondekar by Aami Fondekar, could not win a single seat. There were 74 candidates in the fray for the 15 wards of PMC.
Interestingly, Venkatesh Naik who shifted from Ward 4 to Ward 5 and Geetali Talaulikar, who had shifted from Ward 2 to Ward 15, got elected despite being away from their home base. Venkatesh Naik won with a large margin of 118 voters, while Geetali Talaulikar won narrowly with a margin of 3 votes.
Sitting councillors, Nidhi Mamlekar, Irvin Soares and Lalan Naik were defeated in the PMC elections. According to Returning Officer Vishal Kundaikar, the counting process was held peacefully and smoothly.
"Recounting was only done in Wards 1, 3 and 15, while everything went off smoothly,” said Kundaikar.
Adequate police force was deployed in the counting hall and also near the administrative building, were the counting took place. Most new councillors, while speaking to media persons, said they would work for the betterment of Ponda by supporting development works.

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Rebellion denied us seats, will
still form council: Dr Sawant

VALPOI: Admitting that rebel candidates had denied the BJP-backed panel greater success at the Sakhali Municipal Council (SMC) polls, Sakhali’s BJP MLA and Speaker Dr Pramod Sawant was, however, confident that his panel would still rule in the council.
Responding to queries over the poor results by his panel, which could only win in three wards, Dr Sawant said: “There was a lot of pressure by the Dharmesh Saglani group on the people of Sankhali.”
“Also in some cases, BJP supporters had contested against each other in the same ward. Some mistakes, which had made an impact in results, will definitely be rectified in future,” said Dr Sawant.
“Many winning candidates are interested in supporting the BJP-backed panel for the overall development of Sakhali municipality and BJP can still rule in the SMC,” he added.