the goan I network
PANAJI
As voters in Goa queued up and voted at their respective booths across the State to elect the two Lok Sabha MPs, of particular interest in the proceedings of the day was in what was happening in Mandrem, Mapusa and Shiroda, where people were also voting to elect their MLA, simultaneously.
For, the results of these three by-elections, and the one in Panaji scheduled to be held on May 19 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of former chief minister Manohar Parrikar, could directly affect the stability of the ruling coalition government headed by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.
Of the three seats, Mandrem and Shiroda, were held by the Congress but both their MLAs -- Dayanand Sopte and Subhash Shirodkar -- quit legislatorship and are fighting to win again on the BJP ticket. Both however are fighting with their backs to the wall although they claim they are confident of winning.
In the third seat of Mapusa which fell vacant after the death of former Deputy CM Francis D’Souza, his son Joshua is fighting to retain it for the BJP but is facing a stiff challenge from his father’s former confidante Sudhir Kandolkar who revolted and is contesting as the official candidate of the Congress.
In Mandrem, which recorded the highest turnout of 86.52 per cent, the question on everyone’s lips was what will be the impact of the cold-shoulder BJP’s Sopte got from former Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Laxmikant Parsekar.
Parsekar meanwhile said there would be a backlash against “those candidates who force bypolls” on people. He however, claimed that there was a general mood in favour of voting Prime Minister Narendra Modi back in power as far as the Lok Sabha election was concerned. In Shiroda, BJP’s Shirodkar is facing a stiff battle to retain the seat with the MGP’s Deepak Dhavalikar proving to be a formidable rival. Congress’ Mahadev Naik, observers say is pushed to a distant third. The turnout was a whopping 83.9 percent and punters are saying it is too close to call.
