the goan I network
PANAJI
BJP's Vinay Tendulkar was elected as Goa's lone Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha member on Friday with Tendulkar beating his rival the Congress' Shantaram Naik by six votes.
Tendulkar polled 22 votes as against Naik's 16.
Speaking to reporters after the counting, a jubilant Tendulkar credited his victory to the alliance partners who, he said, have restored faith in him.
"With this the full circle is complete. From the panchayat to zilla panchayat, all are ruled by the BJP now,"
Tendulkar said. He said his success would not be possible without the support of BJP allies and independents who "have totally voted for him". "The Congress got all their votes because they posted their central observer Amit Deshmukh in the voting hall to ensure that there was no cross voting," Tendulkar said, hinting that he could have got even more votes in his favour.
"I'm very happy with the result of the election. We now have four Members of Parliament from Goa, that magic only BJP can do. I'm a member of parliament and three others all from BJP. Definitely, Goa will get whatever it needs," Parrikar said.
Parrikar also congratulated Tendulkar after the conclusion of the session.
The Congress on the other hand said that the results were not a setback to the party and that since they were the ruling dispensation, they got the votes.
"We are 16 and we got all our 16 votes. Since they have the majority and they have the government they could get their man elected. Churchill, I do not think had given his letter of support, but he voted for them, may be his party told him to vote for them," Kavlekar told The Goan no sooner the results were out.
"We had appealed to everybody. It is their decision how to vote. We cannot force them," Kavlekar said when asked why their appeal to the secular voters had failed.
Voting for Rajya Sabha elections began at 9 am on Friday in the Goa Legislative Assembly Complex and continued till 4 pm while counting of votes was held at 5 pm. The voting was not by secret ballot with voters having to display the ballot paper to a party representative and there being a whip.
