MARGAO
What went wrong for Varca strongman Churchill Alemao when he was tamed in his fiefdom by giant killer, Capt Venzy Viegas to stop him from playing yet another innings from Benaulim?
As politicos of all hues in coastal Salcete conduct a post-mortem on the Benaulim poll result, one thing seemed clear that Churchill could not simply stop the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) juggernaut from dislodging him from the constituency which he had won as many as four times in his political career spanning around three decades and half. The AAP candidate had wrested the seat from Churchill by a margin of 1,271 votes.
That’s not all. Another important aspect that has come to the fore is while the battle for supremacy over Benaulim had narrowed down between Churchill and Venzy, the Congress and more particularly the Revolutionary Goans Party defied all poll predictions when the two parties ended up their campaign on a high note, together polling around 8,555 votes, just 3,000 less than the total votes polled by the main players. In fact, the election result has thrown up a debate of sorts as to who amongst the two main players have benefited or was affected by the votes polled by Congress and Revolutionary Goans, which together polled was around 11,555.
So much so that the Congress candidate Tony Dias put up a good show across Benaulim constituency. Despite the defeat, Congress leaders and workers may get the solace that the party led in more polling booths than the sitting Trinamool Congress party MLA and polled majority votes in Orlim village by winning in both the booths.
The Revolutionary Goans Party too surprised the poll pundits when party candidate Desmond Fernandes polled a whopping 3,854 votes before ending up its campaign in the fourth position behind the Congress. The party, however, has heralded its arrival on Benaulim’s coastal political map as the party candidate had led over his rivals in around four booths in its political debut.
A glance at the poll results showed that Churchill could lead over his rivals in just six out of the 40 polling booths in Benaulim. Political observers had predicted that Churchill would do well in the villages of Benaulim, Seraulim and in his home village Varca. He, however, managed to garner a lead in only two out of the 14 booths in Benaulim, one in Seraulim and two more in his home village Varca.
Observers pointed out that Churchill was badly looking for a big lead in Benaulim and Seraulim knowing well that Colva has been a mixed bag over the years and the AAP expected to put up a good show in Venzy’s home village Carmona and Cavelossim.
As it turned out, AAP made its presence felt across the constituency, right from Cavelossim and Carmona, where Venzy led over his rivals. He won four booths in Colva and went on to win another six from Benaulim and two in Churchill’s home village Varca.
In Churchill’s home village Varca, the TMC leader could win only two out of the five booths at stake, with Venzy winning in two other booths, with one booth going in favour of the Congress.
AAP has seen a steady growth in Benaulim, with the party finishing second in the race behind Churchill in the 2017 polls. The party later went on to win the Benaulim Zilla Panchayat seat in 2020, leaving behind the Congress and NCP before setting up the stage for a battle for supremacy over Benaulim in 2022.
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