Dwindling margins set in insecurity in Goa

The Lok Sabha verdict from Goa has injected a sense of insecurity among the national political party leaders here who have found their traditional vote bank dwindling in the realigned Assembly constituencies.         

Goa results sprung no surprises as both the sitting MPs retained their base Sripad Naik (BJP) in North Goa (Panaji) and Fransisco Sardinha (Congress) in South Goa (Mormugao).         

North Goa BJP candidate Sripad Naiks prospects were almost scuttled, if not for Priol constituency, which was shifted from South Goa to North Goa, this time. Priol salvaged his sagging prospects pushing him towards victory.         

Naiks party which polled sizeable votes in the rural North East Goan Assembly constituencies of Sattari taluka had a downfall this time.         

These constituencies favoured Congress-NCP alliance candidate Jitendra Deshprabhu, who was strongly backed by Rane father-son duo.         

Speaker of Legislative Assembly Pratapsingh Rane and his son Independent legislator Vishwajeet Rane are uncrowned kings of Poriem and Valpoi constituencies which gave NCP a lead.

Interestingly, Naiks candidature was declared much in advance and BJP had three rounds of campaigning before the final countdown began.         

Deshprabhus candidature was unexpected candidate for this election and could not get much time to canvass as his candidature was announced delayed.         

In South Goa constituency, Congress candidate Fransisco Sardinha, had to literally snatch a victory from the intense internal bickering within the senior party leaders.         

If not for the Congress stronghold Salcette taluka, Sardinha would have to lose the constituency to BJPs new face Narendra Sawaikar.         

The election results from Catholic dominated Salcette taluka too are stunning.  In some of the talukas where BJP is an untouchable political party, here it managed to give tough fight to Congress increasing its share of votes.         

Goa Public Works Department Minister Churchill Alemaos rebellion against the Congress for not giving ticket to his daughter Valanka was promptly visible in the poll results. Also many other Congressmen showed lacklustre response for the campaigning as Sardinha was not acceptable as a candidate for them.         

Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat and Goa Pradesh Congress Committee Chief Subhash Shirodkar worked overtime for Sardinhas victory.  

Here too, BJP had meticulously planned their campaigning. Sawaikar managed to get three rounds of campaigning and also galvanised the party cadre.         

The candidature of United Goans Democratic Party (UGDP) leader Matanhy Saldanha was expected to bring respite to BJP as Saldan ha would cut into the Congress traditional vote bank.         

Saldanha was high on popularity in the beach belt after his successful agitation to save the houses of fishermen from being demolished under coastal regulation zone (CRZ) rules.         

The UGDP, however, could not make much dent in the vote bank. Even though Sardinha won, he had his margin cut short to just 1 2,000 votes as against Congress traditional winning margin of 4 0,000 votes.         

If not for the two constituencies of Velim and Nuvem, Sardinha too would have lost in South Goa.         

Hindu stronghold constituencies including Ponda, which is represented by Home Minister and Congress legislator Ravi Naik, favoured BJP. Catholic constituencies kept BJP at bay diminishing Sawaikars chances of leading a victory procession.