the goan I network
PANAJI
After much suspense, the Congress has finally placed its bets on experience and nominated former chief minister Francisco Sardinha for the South Goa Lok Sabha seat. In North Goa, as expected, it named Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president, Girish Chodankar in its quest to wrest the two crucial seats from Goa.
GPCC’s chief spokesman Sunil Kawthankar said in a press release that the Congress Central Election Committee has selected Chodankar as its North Goa Lok Sabha candidate and Sardinha as the South Goa Lok Sabha candidate.
Candidates for the two Goa seats were announced in Delhi by the CEC along with those for three other seats -- Korba and Durg in Chhattisgarh and the lone seat for the Union Territory of Daman and Diu.
The party, however, is yet to come to a decision on its candidates for the three Assembly bypolls scheduled to be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls on April 23 in Mandrem, Mapusa and Shiroda.
Congress sources said, the candidates for the three assembly seats will be announced latest in a day or two.
Filing of nominations will begin on March 28 and go on till April 4, according to the schedule announced by the Election Commission. Scrutiny will be held on April 5 while April 8 will be the date for withdrawal.
Sardinha, who has won the seat twice -- in 1998 and in 2009 -- was challenged for the South Goa ticket by Goa Mahila Congress chief Pratima Coutinho.
On Sunday, the party had indicated that it would activate its much-publicised ‘Shakti’ app through which it would seek participation of the party workers and also sections of the electorate to gauge the popularity of the two contestants.
Finally, Sardinha found favour with the CEC over Coutinho owing to his experience and also because he is easily recognizable across all 20 assembly segments that make up the South Goa Lok Sabha constituency.
He will be fighting to wrest the seat back for the Congress from sitting MP, Narendra Sawaikar, who has been renominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Also in the fray will be Aam Aadmi Party State convenor, Elvis Gomes. The Goa Suraksha Manch has announced that it will fight the seat but is yet to name its candidate.
The seat has been won by the Congress eight times since 1977 and conceded just thrice - in 1996 when UGDP’s
Churchill Alemao unseated Union minister Eduardo Faleiro, in 1998 when Ramakant Angle won it for the BJP the first time and in 2014 by Sawaikar.
In North Goa, Chodankar will be pitted against Union AYUSH Minister Shripad Naik who is hoping to net a record fifth consecutive win. Both Chodankar and Naik hail from the electorally significant Bhandari samaj and many expect the fight to go down to the wire.
Much however, will depend on how the two principal political parties in the State ensure sincere efforts are put in by their respective legislators representing the various Assembly segments where they have their pockets of influence.
When Shakti App sent jitters among leaders & workers
MARGAO: Congress’ Shakti App which is aimed at empowering the grass root workers in the decision making process gave jitters to the supporters of contenders for the South Goa Lok Sabha ticket after many an eyebrow was raised over the preference of candidates made by the workers via the App.
For, many a senior leader hit the panic button after they realized that of the 800-odd workers who were registered on the Shakti App, close to half these workers were hailing from a particular constituency in South Goa. Many an eyebrow was raised in Congress circles over the voting on the Shakti App since the Congress leader, who had got Congress workers registered on the App, was known for throwing his weight behind a strong contender.
Sources in the Congress further informed that this particular leader, had lobbied hard for a particular candidate, had reportedly approached some of the MLAs from South Goa with a plea to give letters conveying their support for his choice of candidate.
As the Shakti App scare spread amongst
the party leaders and workers, many a leader and worker called up Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) Chief Girish Chodankar with queries relating to the Shakti App and whether Congress president would go by the inputs obtained from the exercise.
The GPCC President is believed to have given the leaders and workers a patient hearing, explaining that while the Shatki App was the brain child of Congress president Rahul Gandhi in order to power the grass root workers in the decision making process, the Congress Central Election Committee will take other factors into account, including the winnability factor before take a final call on the candidate for the South Goa seat.
The Congress leadership had resorted to Shakti App apparently to break the deadlock over the selection of candidate for the South Goa Lok Sabha with former three-time MP Francisco Sardinha and mahila Congress chief Pratima Coutinho emerging as front runners.
