Former Goa CM Kamat wins from Margao

Former Goa chief minister and Congress veteran Digambar Kamat won from the Margao assembly constituency, defeating BJP's Sharmad Pai Raiturcar by 4,900 votes.

Kamat, who faced the electorate in his seventh consecutive election from the Margao constituency, was the first candidate to file his nomination papers for the February 4 assembly elections.

The 62-year-old sitting MLA quit the Indian National Congress (INC) in 1994 and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) when he was denied ticket.

In 2005, he left the BJP-led government in the state and returned to the Congress.

On July 25, 2007, Kamat's government fell into crisis, as it appeared to not have a majority after resignations and alliance break-ups. However, it saved itself and went on to rule Goa for the next five years up to 2012.

He resigned as the chief minister on March 6, 2012, after the BJP won 24 seats against INC's nine seats in the last Goa Assembly elections.

Prior to the March 2012 assembly elections, Kamat was accused of presiding over the 35,000 crore "loot" of public exchequer in the illegal mining scam during his tenure as the chief minister.

In July 2015, Kamat's name figured in the Louis Berger pay-off scandal as the then chief minister who allegedly accepted a bribe to award a consultancy project to New Jersey-based firm, Louis Berger Inc, for the upgradation of water supply and the sewerage plan in Goa.

In the chargesheet filed by the police in the special court, Kamat was named the "prime conspirator."

In 2012, Kamat had shown his movable and immovable assets at Rs. 6.21 crore.