Goa: Polls for 2 Lok Sabha, 3 Assembly seats on Apr 23

Lok Sabha elections and bypolls for three Assembly seats in Goa will be held on April 23, as per the announcement Sunday by the Election Commission of India.

The state has two Parliamentary constituencies- North Goa and South Goa, both of which are currently held by the ruling BJP.

The bypolls to Shiroda and Mandrem were necessitated after its Congress MLAs resigned from the Legislative Assembly and party and joined the BJP.

The Mapusa bypoll was needed due to the death of sitting BJP MLA Francis D'Souza.

Union Ayush minister Shripad Naik represents North Goa while Narendra Sawaikar is South Goa MP.

BJP Goa general secretary Sadanand Shet Tanawade said the party would soon form its election committee to finalise candidates for the polls.

Congress state unit chief Girish Chodankar said his party would announce names of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls in the next "five to ten days".

Candidates for the three bypolls would be chosen after deliberations at the state-level, Chodankar added.

The Aam Aadmi Party, meanwhile, has said that former bureaucrat Elvis Gomes will contest from South Goa while its state general secretary Pradeep Padgaonkar will be fielded from North Goa.

The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, an ally in the Manohar Parrikar government, has announced that its president Dipak Dhavalikar would contest the bypoll from Shiroda.