Goa: 12 candidates of LS polls, 16 for assembly bypolls

Twelve aspirants are in the fray for Goa’s two Lok Sabha seats, while 16 candidates have thrown their hats in the ring for the three upcoming state assembly bypolls.

Both Lok Sabha and assembly bypolls in Goa are scheduled to be held on April 23. For the South Goa Lok Sabha seat, former chief minister and Congress candidate Francisco Sardinha, takes on sitting BJP MP Narendra Sawaikar, both of whom are front-runners for the constituency.

Other candidates are Aam Aadmi Party’s Elvis Gomes, Shiv Sena’s Rakhi Naik and two independents, Kalidas Vaingankar and Mayur Khanconkar.

In the North Goa Lok Sabha seat, four-time sitting MP and Union Minister of State (independent charge) for AYUSH Shripad Naik will face state Congress president Girish Chodankar.

Others are AAPs general secretary Pradeep Padgaonkar, Amit Korgaonkar from the Republican Party of India and two independents, Aishwarya Salgaocar and Bhagwant Kamat.

Battle for Assembly

In Mapusa, where a bypoll is being held following the death of sitting BJP MLA Francis D’Souza, his son Joshua is contesting from the BJP ticket, while the Congress is being represented by Sudhir Kandolkar — who quit the BJP and joined the Congress last month.

Other candidates in the fray are Nationalist Congress Party’s Sanjay Barde, Goa Suraksha Manch’s Nandan Sawant and two independent candidates.

At the Mandrem assembly seat, the bypoll was necessitated after Congress MLA Dayanand Sopte quit the party last year and joined the BJP. Sopte is now contesting on a BJP ticket, against Congress party’s Babi Bagkar, Goa Suraksha Manch’s Swarup Naik.

In the third assembly bypoll at the Shiroda assembly constituency, Subhash Shirodkar of the BJP takes on Congress’ Mahadev Naik. Interestingly, Shirodkar quit the Congress to join the BJP last year, while Naik quit the BJP to join the Congress this year. Other contestants in the fray are MGP’s Deepak Dhavalikar, AAP’s Yogesh Khandeparkar, GSM’s Santosh Satarkar.