MARGAO
It ’s official. As the battle lines are finally drawn for the February 14 polls, what was anticipated all along has come true. A host of political parties will battle it out for the anti-BJP vote in the eight Assembly constituencies of Salcete, which is considered as the Congress stronghold for years.
As many as five political players, including national parties, which swear to dislodge Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the centre and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant in Goa are all arrayed against each other in the minority stronghold, which has as many as eight out of the 40 seats at stake.
Be it the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party and the local outfits Goa Forward and debutant Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP), candidates fielded by these parties remain in the fray after the last date for withdrawal of candidates. And, not to mention a couple of independents, including two outgoing MLAs, Reginaldo Lourenco and Wilfred D’Sa also in the fray.
In the two Christian strongholds of Velim and Nuvem, all the five anti-BJP parties, including the Congress, NCP, TMC, AAP and RGP will cross swords with each other for honours where the BJP has no significant presence.
The NCP is contesting only in three of the eight seats in Salcete. But, it is now clear that the Congress, TMC, AAP and the RGP will all battle it out in the constituencies of Benaulim, Cuncolim, Velim, Navelim, Curtorim, Margao. In Fatorda, Congress alliance partner Goa Forward, besides TMC , AAP and RGP candidates are all in the fray, where the BJP is making a determined bid to regain the seat after a gap of 10 years.
All the eight Assembly constituencies will witness multi-cornered contests. Perhaps for the first time in recent elections, the ruling BJP is contesting in all the eight seats in minority Salcete. A glance at the candidates constituency-wise shows that Cuncolim plays host to a maximum number, around 10 to be precise. Cuncolim also has the maximum number of independent candidates, five to be precise.
Benaulim
High profile Benaulim will witness a five-corneredcontest between sitting TMC MLA Churchill Alemao and Venzy Viegas (AAP), TonyDias (Congress), Damodar Bandodkar (BJP) and Desmond Fernandes (RGP). In thisconstituency, the BJP has little or negligible presence, and the fight forhonours is revolving around the TMC, AAP, Cong and the RGP.
Navelim
A nine-cornered electoral battle is on the cards for theNavelim seat. Besides, There are three independents in the fray. Candidates inthe fray include Avertano Furtado (Congress), Rehan Mujawar (NCP), UlhasTuemkar (BJP), Valanka Alemao (TMC), Bento Da Silva (RGP), Pratima Coutinho(AAP) and independents -- Antonio Alvares, Digvijit Chavan and Francisco Colaco.
Nuvem
As many as seven candidates remain in the fray for theNuvem seat. The candidates include Aleixo Sequeira (Congress), Datta Borkar(BJP), Raju Cabral (TMC), Mickky Pacheco (NCP), Arvind D’Costa (RGP), DrMariano Godinho (AAP) and independent candidate, Wilfred D’Sa.
Margao
For the prestigious Margao seat, where Opposition leaderDigambar Kamat is seeking reelection for the eight-time in a row, as many asfive candidates are in the fray. The candidates include Digambar Kamat(Congress), Deputy Chief Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar (BJP), Mahesh Amonkar(TMC), Lincoln Vaz (AAP) and Shashiraj Naik Shirodkar (RGP).
Fatorda
Fatorda constituency will also witness a six-corneredcontest between sitting MLA Vijai Sardesai of the Goa Forward Party, former MLADamu Naik (BJP), Seoula Vas (TMC), Sandesh Talekar (AAP), Valerie Fernandes(RGP) and Independent Michael Ferns.
Velim
Minority-dominated Velim constituency will witness asix-cornered contest, wherein all the candidates are contesting on partybanners. They include former MLA Benjamin D'Silva (TMC), Savio D’Silva(Congress), outgoing Minister Filipe Nery Rodrigues (NCP), Savio Rodrigues (BJP),Cruz Silva (AAP) and Dagley Fernandes (RGP).
Cuncolim
Cuncolim tops the list of constituencies having themaximum number of candidates. This is one constituency that has the maximumnumber of Independents in fray. The candidates include Yuri Alemao (Cong),sitting MLA Clafacio Dias (BJP), Dr Jorson Fernandes (TMC), Prashant Naik(AAP), Wilson Cardozo (RGP). The independent candidates are Derick Dias,Milagres Gonsalves, Raymond D’Cruz, Santosh Faldesai and Sudesh Bhise.
Curtorim
Curtorim, which has been in the news in the run-up to theelection over candidates switching parties, will witness an eight-corneredcontest. Like in other constituencies in Salcete, all the main politicalparties are in the fray for the seat. These include Anthony Barbosa (BJP),Anthony Piexote (TMC), Moreno Rebello (Congress), Domingo Gaunkar (AAP), RobertPereira (RGP), besides independents Reginaldo Lourenco, Conceicao Dias andIsidore.
