Chief Minister Pramod Sawant in Navelim in April last with sitting BJP MLA Ulhas Tuenkar to strengthen party base ahead of the 2025 ZP and 2027 Assembly elections.
MARGAO
Battleground Navelim: BJP on one side, and a host of political players — Congress, Goa Forward, and Aam Aadmi Party — jostling for opposition space, at least for now.
Objective: To strengthen their respective party bases in the constituency to take on the BJP, with an eye on the 2025 Zilla Panchayat polls and the 2027 Assembly elections.
2022 Flashback
The Lotus had bloomed in Navelim in the 2022 Assembly elections following a vertical divide in the non-BJP votes, amongst political players such as the Congress, Trinamool Congress, Revolutionary Goans Party, Aam Aadmi Party and the Nationalist Congress Party.
Thanks to the fragmentation of the Opposition vote, the BJP had won Navelim in 2022, traditionally considered a non-BJP stronghold. Incidentally, the BJP had further gone on to win the by-poll for the Davorlim Zilla Panchayat seat left vacant after the election of then ZP member Ulhas Tuenkar as the Navelim MLA.
Saffron party’s early start
The saffron party has already sounded the poll bugle around two months ago to retain Navelim when Chief Minister Pramod Sawant thundered that the party should not have any problem to retain Navelim in the 2027 election. Reason: Knowing well that the Party MLA Ulhas Tuenkar had won the Navelim seat because of a split in the non-BJP vote, the Chief Minister’s optimism apparently stemmed from the fact that the party membership in Navelim has now touched the 9,000-vote figure, enough to retain the seat in the coming polls.
Against this backdrop, the non-BJP political parties, including the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and the Goa Forward seemed to have set its eyes on Navelim. Besides, a host of players, including former MLA Churchill Alemao’s daughter Valanka and social activist Pratima Coutinho, who have been working on the ground over the last two years, indicate their intention to play their due role in the coming polls.
Cong eyes revival with Cipru’s induction
Navelim is no stranger for the Congress party, with the party flag flying high in Navelim during the long-tenure of former Chief Minister Luizinho Faleiro. The party, however, failed to retain the Navelim seat in the 2022 polls with no tall leader in the party ranks to lead the party to victory.
Former Minister Avertano Furtado, who had won the Navelim seat in the 2012 elections, riding on an anti-Churchill Alemao wave, could not win the election on the Congress banner.
Against this backdrop, the current Congress leadership comprising of GPCC chief Amit Patkar and Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao seemed to have battled for three-time Navelim Zilla Panchayat member Cipru Cardozo to fill up the vacuum ahead of the coming polls.
Congress sources have confirmed that Cipru along with his supporters is expected to formally join the Congress tentatively on July 5 in the presence of top Congress leadership.
AAP’s silent build-up
The Aam Aadmi Party seemed working silently in Navelim constituency as part of the party’s move to strengthen the party base. Party leader Siddesh Bhagat along with other party leaders have gone about strengthening the party in the constituency ahead of the coming polls.
Sources close to the Aam Aadmi Party pointed out that the party will contest both the ZP seats, Navelim and Davorlim in the coming polls and then gear up for the 2027 Assembly elections. The party had contested the 2022 Assembly elections and polled significant votes. The party had emerged as a key player in the 2022 Davorlim ZP by-poll before losing the battle to the BJP.
Goa Forward’s surprise entry
Goa Forward party leadership has stunned political observers when party chief Vijai Sardesai on Tuesday set up the Navelim block under the leadership of Anthony Colaco, who hails from the strong Scheduled Tribe community. The move came just four days before the Congress party’s scheduled induction of Navelim three-time ZP member Cipru Cardozo in the party.
The Goa Forward gameplay appears simple – consolidate the Scheduled Tribe-Muslim vote towards the regional party, as the two communities have a significant presence in Navelim constituency, before fielding a candidate in the 2027 Assembly elections.
That Sardesai repeatedly harped on empowering the Mul Goenkars and the Muslim community suggests that the party will go about consolidating this vote before going all out in the coming polls.
Sardesai has announced that Anthony Colaco will fight the Davorlim seat as the Goa Forward candidate in the November ZP polls. “The regional party will address the issues plaguing the ST community and the Muslims. Our work starts in Navelim from today. Anthony Colaco will fan out to the constituency to hear the public grievances and place them before the party for redressal,” he added.
