Both BJP, Cong have even strengths; tough test for RGP in St Andre
PANAJI
As political analysts crunch the numbers with clarity coming in from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Ramesh Verma, about the assembly segment-wise voter turnouts in Tuesday’s polling for the North Goa Lok Sabha seat which was released on Wednesday, Tiswadi’s surprise lower than expected voter turnout is glaringly visible.
Three of the five Tiswadi assembly segments -- Panaji, St Cruz and St Andre -- not only witnessed subdued voting but the final figures released by the CEO’s office on Wednesday show that the polling fell below the tally for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The voter turnout in the other two segments -- Taleigao and Cumbharjua -- surpassed their respective 2019 Lok Sabha election tallies but hardly by a few hundred votes.
Panaji, meanwhile, which recorded the second-lowest voter turnout among all 40 assembly segments in Goa, the tally dropped by nearly 1,000 votes from its 2019 figure of 16,000-plus votes. On Tuesday only 15,337 Panjimites got their index fingers inked to cast their votes at the 30 polling stations.
How will this low turnout in the capital pan out for the larger dynamic of what is expected to be a two-way fight between the BJP’s Shripad Naik and the Congress’ Ramakant Khalap may depend on several other factors but could broadly be a small positive for the latter as it is saffron bastion.
The third candidate of note in the fray, RGP’s Manoj Parab, it is unlikely he has made much of a difference in the voting patterns of the capital city as he and his party are not known to have much of a footprint here.
In 2019, Naik had gained a 2000-plus votes margin over his Congress rival in Panaji. However, it must be noted that the political dynamics were vastly different then -- Panaji MLA Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate was on the Congress side and was also fighting the Panaji assembly by-election held simultaneously which he won.
Neighbouring St Cruz, which is a Congress stronghold, too has recorded a marginally lower turnout this time as compared to the 2019 husting. It was one of the few assembly segments where Congress’ Girish Chodankar had scored a lead the last time polling about 2,800 votes more than Naik. This time around, however, the Congress could gain even more as observers say there is resentment over current MLA Rudolf Fernandes crossing over to the saffron side.
In Taleigao, the voter turnout is some 500 votes higher than its 2019 tally of 21,000-odd votes. It is a segment where Naik lagged behind Chodankar by over 1,500 votes but again like Panaji the dynamics for the Congress was different then, with the Monserrates on their side which is not the case now.
The cynosure of all eyes in Tiswadi will be St Andre, which is represented by the RGP’s lone MLA, Viresh Borkar. How his party president, Manoj Parab fares in this segment will be the biggest talking point when the EVMs from the constituency are taken up for counting on the June 4 result day.
Cumbharjua is the fifth assembly segment of Tiswadi, where again Naik fared pretty well in the 2019 husting gaining a 1,500-plus vote lead over Chodankar. Whether Naik hangs on to the advantage in this segment, which has this time logged a marginally higher turnout this time (700-odd votes more) will depend on the chemistry between the BJP’s mandal and the team of nouveau saffronite and local MLA Rajesh Faldessai.
