MAPUSA
Deputy Chief Minister and BJP MLA, Francis D’Souza alias Babush will be filing his papers for the Mapusa seat at 11 am. This is the fifth time Babush will be contesting from the constituency. He was first elected to the assembly in 1999 on Goa Rajiv Congress Party. Subsequently, he was elected on BJP ticket in 2002, 2007 and 2012.
BJP’s Glen Ticlo and Michael Lobo will also be filing their nominations from Aldona and Calangute constituencies respectively. Both will be contesting the election for the second time.
Guruprasad Pawaskar, BJP’s Porvorim candidate, will also be filing his papers. He will be contesting the assembly election for the first time.
All seven Aam Aadmi Party candidates from Bardez “ Shardha Khalap (Mapusa), Pradeep Gadi Amonkar (Tivim), Vishnu Naik (Siolim), Ursula D’Souza (Aldona), Pradeep Padgoankar (Saligao), Godwin Fernandes (Calangute) and Rajesh Volvoikar (Porvorim) are also expected to file their nominations on Monday.
From the Congress side, former tourism minister Nilkant Halarnkar will be filing his nomination from Tivim.
The two candidates of Goa Forward Party “ Jayesh Salgaonkar (Saligao) and Vinod Palyekar (Siolim) will also file their nominations.
“We have a good muhurat on Monday. January 16 is Goa Opinion Day and the day is significant to us as we are fighting for Goa and Goenkarpon,” said Prashant Naik, spokesperson of Goa Forward.
Naik also said that there was a possibility of party’s candidate from Mapusa filing his nomination. Dominic Alphonso is expected to be Goa Forward’s candidate from Mapusa.
He said filing of nominations won’t come in the way of the ongoing talks on alliance as there was always the opportunity of withdrawing the candidates from the fray.
