PANAJI
On Friday post counting, both Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and his Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) State president, Sadanand Shet Tanavade professed victory in the panchayat elections and claimed its cadres and supporters will govern in as many as 140-150 of the 186 local self-governing bodies at the village level.
On Saturday, there was a rethink. The party is now officially claiming that it has won 128 of the 186 panchayats.
The claim was made by the party through a 'thank you' post from its official handle on micro-blogging site Twitter.
"When it comes to development & good governance, people of Goa trust the BJP. Thank you Goans for your continued faith & support," the party posted on its official @BJP4Goa Twitter handle.
A poster, claiming 128 of 186 panchayats chose the BJP and congratulating all the winning candidates was also posted alongside the message. The poster had pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president on the top and those of Sawant and Tanavade at the bottom.
The veracity of the claims will be proved only on August 22 when all the 186 panchayats have been convened to elect the sarpanchas and deputy sarpanchas by an order issued by Director of Panchayats Siddhi Halarnkar.
The August 10 elections to 186 panchayats, results of which were declared on Friday, were not fought on party lines.
However, as has been the practice for decades, politicians (ministers and MLAs) and political parties claim victories by showcasing allegiance of the winners using a surrogate, semi-formal methodology.
On Friday soon after results were declared, Sawant and Tanavade adopted this methodology to claim BJP had scored a clean sweep and gained control in 140-150 panchayats.
On Saturday, Sawant tagged on to the party's official claim made through the tweet.
"I thank @BJP4India National president Shri @JPNadda ji and HM Shri @AmitShah ji for their continued guidance. I congratulate @BJP4Goa President Shri @ShetSadanand and the BJP team for this huge success," Sawant tweeted from his handle.
"In another tweet, Sawant said: The Panchayat Elections strengthen our democratic ethos at the grassroot level. I congratulate and wish all the very best to the newly elected panchas for the service of the people," he added in another tweet.
Political analysts meanwhile say much of the negotiations and horse-trading to cobble up majorities and capture power in individual panchayats will be taking place over the next few days up until August 22, when the new bodies will elect Sarpanchas and their deputies.
