PANAJI
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and INDI alliance led by Congress are set to retain their strongholds in North and South Goa respectively as counting for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections nears end.
BJP's Shripad Naik has secured an impressive lead, crossing the 1 lakh vote margin, paving way for his sixth consecutive win. INDI bloc’s South Goa candidate Captain Viriato Fernandes is ahead by around 20,000 votes against BJP's Pallavi Dempo.
However, Naik's vote share witnessed a minimal decline from 57.12 % in 2019 to 56.21% whereas South recorded a jump in vote share from 47% to 48%
Likewise, BJPs vote share in South Goa remained stagnant at 45 per cent since 2019. Pallavi secured 2 lakh votes
Congress' vote share in North has declined drastically from 38% in 2019 to 31.22% with party candidate and former union minister Adv Ramakant khalap getting 1.39 lakh votes approx so far.
Related over South Goa's record, Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao hailed this outcome as a prelude to the 2027 assembly elections, calling it a “semi-final” victory for Congress. Fernandes has echoed this sentiment, attributing his imminent win to the will of the people.
As the counting progresses, Shripad Naik’s lead has expanded to 111,253 votes, with a total of 250,799 votes, outpacing his Congress rival, Ramakant Khalap, who has garnered 139,446 votes.
Naik stated that the party's victory is North Goa was expected, however anti-incumbency led to drop in numbers at the Centre. The NDA managed to get 296 seats while INDI is at 229 as of now.
