PANAJI
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant got a shot in the arm as they swept the Zilla Panchayat polls winning 33 of the 49 seats in the two district bodies counting for which was taken up on Monday at centres across Goa.
Congress, which is the main Opposition party was virtually decimated and won just 4 seats three of these in Salcete, their long time traditional stronghold.
The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) won three seats in the Ponda taluka strongholds of the Dhavlikar brothers spread across the Assembly constituencies of Priol, Marcaim and Ponda.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which has recently launched a renewed foray to gain a foothold in the Goan political arena tasted its first electoral victory winning the Benaulim ZP seat with its candidate Hanzel Fernandes declared elected defeating the Congress' Royla Fernandes by a 400-odd vote margin.
Menino Fernandes, the candidate backed by Benaulim strongman and NCP MLA Churchill Alemao, was relegated to third place. Alemao however partly redeemed his prestige with the NCP candidate winning the Colva seat which however partly encompasses the neighbouring Nuvem assembly constituency.
Seven Independent candidates also recorded victories.
Sawant meanwhile claimed that the ZP polls were a "test" for his government's performance and the people have given it a thumbs up.
"People came out for voting despite the Covid-19 pandemic. People have shown faith in us. This was a test of our government," Sawant told reporters reacting to the results.
Sawant also said in a tweet: "I humbly bow down before the people of Goa for the trust they have reposed onto the Bharatiya Janata Party as well as the Govt of Goa working under my leadership. Let us shape a glorious and Swayampurna (Self Reliant) Goa by taking ahead the same trust and confidence!",
Sawant had taken charge as chief minister after the death of Manohar Parrikar in office in March, 2019.
This ZP election was the first major electoral exercise in Goa since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. Originally scheduled for March 22 this year, the polls were truncated as they had to be put off indefinitely after the country was put under a national lockdown in late March.
Congress State president Girish Chodankar admitted his party's "failure" in convincing people that the vote given to Congress will not eventually go to BJP due to defection by their candidates.
"They feel that if they vote to Congress, then their vote will go to BJP as in past our MLAs defected. We failed to weed out this perception from people's mind. Voters expressed anger by dissent and did not come out to vote for us. We respect their dissent and vow to change," Chodankar said.
