215 candidates in vie for 40 seats in Goa
The sprint is on for the 40 seats in Goa’s legislative Assembly with 215 candidates in the race after the last withdrawals on Thursday.
The Congress-NCP alliance will contest all the 40 seats with their main rivals the BJP and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) who have also struck a pre-poll understanding taking on 35.
The NCP and MGP have taken seven seats each from their allies. The BJP is also backing a few independents.
The newcomer Trinamool Congress led by the unpredictable yet colourful Wilfred De Souza has put up 20 candidates, outdoing Goa’s regional parties the United Goans Democratic Party (UGDP) which has fielded seven and the Micky Pacheco experiment Goa Vikas Party (GVP) which is contesting eight seats. The UGDP and GVP announced a tie-up that already seems shaky.
Some of the biggest contests to watch for in the March 3 election here will be the Margao seat where an isolated Chief Minister Digambar Kamat will have to take on not only the BJP’s Rupesh Mahatme but also the Trinamool candidate Savio Coutinho.
Kamat’s diminishing influence in the Congress is becoming apparent. Coutinho is the husband of Youth Congress Goa unit chief Pratima Coutinho.
The Panaji seat too will see an equally hot contest as BJP leader Manohar Parrikar has something of a challenge from the Congress nominee Yatin Parekh who is the city Mayor. Parekh was the Congress’ last minute surprise entry to unsettle the BJP leader and keep him nailed down to his constituency.
Speaker Pratapsingh Rane who is now the front-runner to lead the Congress after the poll is in a one-on-one fight in Poriem with the BJP nominee Vishwajit Rane (not to be mistaken with his son also called Vishwajit), in what is seen as no contest for the experienced politician.
Decidedly, all eyes here will be on the Santa Cruz constituency where money power is expected to dictate the vote. The BJP-MGP combine have put up builder and mining businessman Dinar Tarcar to take on controversial Congress Minister Babush Monserrate. Tarcar is fighting on the MGP symbol. There are eight candidates, some of them with a police record, contesting this seat.
The Congress has taken a huge risk by fielding sons, daughters, wives and brothers of influential politicians in what has been dubbed “family raj” by poll watchers.
Their performance has become crucial for the party to reclaim power. Minister Churchill Alemao’s daughter is also trying to debut into politics from the Benaulim seat, so is Joaquim Alemao’s son Yuri who is contesting for the NCP from Sanguem. In Madkai, Home Minister Ravi Naik’s son Ritesh has a tough contest against the MGP’s Sudin Dhavlikar.
