Goa Headed For Hung Assembly

Goa is headed for a hung assembly on Saturday with the Congress and the BJP both winning seven seats each and also leading in two seats each.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Goa Forward and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) won one seat each.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party suffered a major blow when Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar was defeated by Dayanand Sopte of the Congress at Mandrem by 7,119 votes. While Sopte polled 16,490 votes, Parsekar finished with 9,371 votes.

At Poriem, former Chief Minister and Congress candidate Pratapsingh Rane with 14,977 votes defeated BJP's Vishwajit K. Rane, who could garner only 10,911 votes. While the Congress won from Nuvem, Poriem, Quepem, Shiroda, St. Andre, Taleigao and Mandrem, the BJP won from Aldona, Bicholim, Calangute, Dabolim, Mayem, Mapusa and Sanquelim. The Mapusa victor was Deputy Chief Minister Francis D'Souza, who defeated his MGP rival Vinod Phadke by 6,828 votes. This is D'Souza's sixth consecutive win in assembly elections. He is the seniormost elected BJP legislator in the state and one of the most prominent Catholic faces of the BJP in Goa. Asked if he was in the race for Chief Ministership, D'Souza said: "It is up to the party to decide." NCP's Churchill Alemao, who was making a political comeback after being arrested in connection with the multi-crore Louis Berger bribery scam two years back, won from Benaulim, beating his nearest rival Royla Fernandes of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) by 5,191 votes. The Goa Forward and the MGP won one seat each.

The AAP, which had made a determined bid to take power in the coastal state, could not win a single seat, with its Chief Ministerial candidate Elvis Gomes coming fourth in Cuncolim, polling only 3,336 votes. The Goa Surakha Manch, formed by ex-RSS leader Subhash Velinkar who had the Shiv Sena as his ally, also could not open its account.