MAPUSA
It was a foregone conclusion that former minister, Michael Lobo would do the (hat) trick in Calangute and he saw that there were no hiccups in his quest for the third term in the assembly.
As expected he defeated his nearest rival former sarpanch Joseph Sequeira who contested on the BJP ticket at the last minute by a margin of nearly 5,000 votes.
Besides carrying out some works in the constituency during his term in the BJP-led government, Lobo has a strong connect with the locals in the constituency.
The former Calangute MLA is known to reach out to those in need from every segment of the society.
Known to have an astute political mind, he swam against the tide and decided to break away from BJP and join the Congress on the eve of the assembly elections.
Interestingly, the surprise element of the election was the amazing performance of the candidate of Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP).
The little known RGP candidate, Marcelino Francisco Gonsalves who hardly carried out any visible campaign on the ground bagged 2,538 votes to take the third place after the BJP.
On the contrary, AAP’s Sudesh Mayekar who carried out a spirited campaign in the coastal constituency came fourth, by polling 1,769 votes.
The TMC candidate, Anthony Menezes who also went all out in his quest to win the seat bagged just about 1,690 votes to book a place behind the AAP candidate.
Menezes, who fancied his chances in the elections, was also backed by former two-time MLA Agnel Fernandes and ex-sarpanch of Parra Benedict D’Souza.
All three along with former Calangute sarpanch Joseph Sequeira were firmly with Congress but joined TMC after Michael Lobo made his entry into the Congress.
