MAPUSA
It was a mixed response to family raj in Bardez with husband-wife duo of Lobos winning on Congress ticket but the other Kandolkar couple who contested the TMC symbol lost.
While Michael Lobo’s victory was a foregone conclusion, his sarpanch wife Delilah Lobo had to huff and puff towards the victory line but finally defeated BJP’s Dayanand Mandrekar by a comfortable margin of 1,727votes.
However, TMC State President Kiran Kandolkar and his wife, Kavita Kandolkar were not so lucky.
Zilla Panchayat member, Kavita who was a favourite in Tivim constituency lost to BJP’s Nilkant Halarnkar by over 2000 votes.
Kiran Kandolkar who contested from Aldona constituency came third by polling 3,647 votes.
Both Michael Lobo and Kiran Kandolkar insisted for tickets for their wives and joined their respective political parties only after getting an assurance of a ticket for their spouses.
Lobo first persisted with his former party, the BJP, for a party ticket for his wife in Siolim and when he failed to get a commitment, he decided to join the Congress.
Similarly, Kandolkar, who was with the Goa Forward Party, quit the regional party to embrace the TMC which assured tickets for him and his wife.
Joshua D’Souza son of former BJP MLA, Francisco D’Souza also won comfortably against Congress’ Sudhir Kandolkar in Mapusa.
