MARGAO
Around 2.40 lakh voters, around 2,39,837 to be precise. That’s the total electorate registered in the eight assembly segments of Salcete taluka. But, how many of these voters will make it to the polling stations on May 7 is a question that has come to haunt the Congress party on the eve of the election.
For, the Congress is pinning hopes on the Salcete voters to give party candidate Captain Viriato Fernandes minimum 70,000 vote lead to offset any BJP surge in the remaining segments in the hinterland talukas and the Port town of Vasco.
Take note, as per the latest update of the electoral roll, South Goa’s total electorate is pegged around 5,98,767, of which 2.39,837 hail from Salcete taluka.
Against this backdrop, the Congress leadership is pinning hopes on the voters in eight Assembly segments of Salcete to come out in large numbers to keep Captain Viriato Fernandes in good stead.
A good vote lead for Captain Viriato in the region of 70,000 votes, party leaders say will help the party to offset any BJP gains in the remaining talukas of South Goa.
For, party leaders pointed out that MP Francisco Sardinha had won the South Goa seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll by garnering an unassailable vote lead of 50,000 in Salcete.
The Congress is eyeing a 65,000-70,000 vote lead in Salcete in view of the changing political situation with the MGP backing the BJP and the BJP is going to the polls with a host of Ministers and MLAs on its side.
“It’s not that the Congress candidate will not poll votes in the remaining segments in the hinterland talukas. But, a huge and unassailable lead in Salcete gives the party candidate an advantage over the BJP in the scheme of things. We hope that a large turn out of voters in Salcete will help the party score big in the Tuesday election’, remarked a senior party leader.
He added: “We have set 70,000 vote lead in Salcete to offset any major gains by the BJP in the other areas. For, though Sardinha had got a vote lead of 50,000 in Salcete, he could win the South Goa seat by a thin margin of 9700-odd vote lead.
"In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Congress candidate Reginaldo Lourenco had lost the seat by around 32,000 votes despite Salcete giving 30,000 vote lead for the Congress”.
