MARGAO
Political parties have set their sights onr the October 16 bye-polls for the Davorlim Zilla Panchayat seat left vacant by BJP member Ulhas Tuenkar after his election as the MLA of Navelim constituency.
While the BJP is expected to go all out to retain the ZP seat, the Aam Admi Party has decided to contest the bye-polls. While it is unclear how the Congress will go about the bye-poll, former Davorlim deputy Sarpanch Leon Raikar is expected to throw his hat in the election ring.
Navelim BJP MLA Ulhas Tuemkar said the party will shortlist the candidate for the Davorlim ZP bye-poll before the weekend, even as reports from the ruling party indicated that party's Navelim Mandal's Paresh Naik has emerged as the strong contender for the ticket.
MLA Tuemkar pointed out that the party will zero in on the candidate after discussing with the party leadership, exuding confidence of retaining the seat left vacant by him after his election to the Legislative Assembly in the 2022 polls.
On the other hand, sources in the Aam Admin party informed that the party has decided to field a candidate for the Davorlim ZP bye-poll. News of party leader Siddesh Bhagat, who was the former Aquem-Baixo is doing the rounds in party circles as the probable candidate for the seat.
As far as the Congress party is concerned, nothing has been heard from the party leadership yet on how the party will go about the election. After the debacle in the 2022 Assembly election, when the Lotus bloomed in Navelim for the first time in the electoral history, the Congress has been literally lying down since then.
Sources pointed out that former Davorlim sarpanch Leon Raikar, who is a perceived as a supporter of former MLAs, Luizinho Faleiro and Churchill Alemao, is likely to throw his hat in the bye-eleciton.
While confirming his decision to contest the bye-poll, Leon, however, said he would soon decide on the party on which he would contest the polls.
“I will take a call on which party to contest the bye-poll. But, I am certainly contesting the bye-poll,” he added.
The BJP had retained the Davorlim seat when Ulhas Tuemkar had won the seat for the second time in the 2020 election. The Congress party, however, could not regain the seat with political observers attributing the party’s defeat to the multiple split in the traditional vote.
