MAPUSA
Women once again failed to leave a mark on the electoral stage with only two candidates managing to secure a place in the 40-member Goa assembly, a meager five per cent representation in the House.
Alina Saldanha of the BJP and Jennifer Monserrate of Congress were re-elected from their respective constituencies of Cortalim and Taleigao.
Surprisingly, 13 women candidates lost their deposit out of the total 17 women who were in the fray.
Aam Aadmi Party had led the list offering five women the tickets in the February 4 assembly polls followed by Congress-3, Goa Vikas Party-2 and BJP, MGP, NCP, Goa Suraj Party one each. Three others contested as Independent.
Among the five AAP women candidates, only Royla Fernandes managed to save her deposit in Benaulim by polling 4,182 votes.
The Delhi party’s other candidates - Ursula D’Souza (Aldona), Shraddha Khalap (Mapusa), Cecille Rodrigues (Taleigao) and Loretta Shreedharan (Vasco) polled decent votes of 3,272, 2,321, 1,976 and 928 respectively, but all had to forfeit their deposits.
Although Congress’ Jennifer Monserrate was re-elected with a good margin in Taleigao, the grand old party’s Marcaim nominee, Urmila Naik could poll only 1,259 votes, thereby losing her deposit. The party’s Sanguem candidate Savitri Kavlekar, wife of Babu Kavlekar polled 5,736 votes in Sanguem, but failed to put it across the Independent and BJP candidate.
Alina Saldanha was BJP’s lone woman candidate in the fray this election and managed to retain the Cortalim seat with a margin of a mere 518 votes.
GVP’s Nelly Rodrigues polled a decent 3,380 votes in Cortalim but she too had to forfeit her deposit.
The other parties and Independent women candidates polled votes in triple digits and all lost their deposits.
