MARGAO
The Congress kept its flag flying high at the Cuncolim Municipal Council, maintaining its stranglehold over the only civic body ruled by the Opposition party in Goa, as it retained power with ease by warding off a challenge from the BJP in the 14-member municipality.
In the elections held on Tuesday, Congress-backed candidate Landry Mascarenhas was declared elected as the new Chairperson of the Cuncolim Municipal Council, defeating the BJP nominee Vishal Desai by a comfortable margin of 9-3 votes.
Landry not only got the backing of the eight-member Congress group but managed to get the support of a BJP member Rahul Dessai, taking the tally of votes polled by him to nine in the 14-member body.
That’s not all. The BJP group came under the scanner of political observers after two of its women members Polita Carneiro and Rupa Gaonkar were conspicuous by their absence for the election.
BJP candidate Vishal polled only three votes, including the vote of Videsh Desai, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s brother-in-law and outgoing Congress-backed Chairperson Laxman Naik.
The Congress was quick to point out that the result has exposed a vertical split in the BJP panel with two councillors from the BJP-backed panel remaining absent during the voting.
“We will work for the development of Cuncolim. I thank all the eight councillors who voted for me and also thank our supremo, former minister Joaquim Alemao and Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao for their support. I am sure the Cuncolim MLA will extend his full cooperation to us,” Landry said after his election.
Opposition Leader Yuri Alemao congratulated the newly elected Chairperson and also complimented all the nine councillors who remained united. “I will extend my full cooperation to the new Chairperson,” stated Yuri.
