Average age of Congress candidates for Goa elections is only 48 years: Girish Chodankar

In its battle with the ruling BJP for the February 14 state assembly polls, the Congress appears to have entrusted faith in young contestants, according to state party president Girish Chodankar, who on Thursday said that the average age of Congress party candidates for the polls was around 48 years.

Speaking to reporters in Panaji, Chodankar also said that the party had fielded 80 per cent new faces and that the party would be contesting in around 37 out of the 40 state assembly seats which are scheduled to go to polls next month.

"Four candidates are in the age group of 30 to 40 years. 18 candidates are in the age group of 40 to 50 years and 10 candidates are between the ages of 50 and 60 years. We have fielded only five candidates who are above the age of sixty years. The average of Congress candidates is 48 years, which is young," the state Congress president said.

"Our list of candidates has 70 to 80 per cent new and young faces. Only six per cent candidates are former MLAs. 31 candidates are new and young faces. 18 of them are first time contestants," Chodankar said.

Ahead of the 2017 state assembly polls, the Congress faced severe criticism after the party fielded several aging former Chief Ministers, four of whom ended winning the elections. The party had 17 assembly seats after the polls, but through 2019, the party lost 13 MLAs to defections and switch overs.

Earlier this year, two other former chief ministers namely Luizinho Faleiro and Ravi Naik quit the party to join the Trinamool Congress and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party respectively.

After a mass defection of 10 MLAs in 2019, the Congress party passed a resolution banning the entry of the defectors back into the Congress, with Chodankar promising to the people of the state that no defector would be given a ticket by the party in the 2022 polls.

Chodankar claims the Congress has been true to its promise.

"People wanted the Congress not give tickets to defectors and the party should field new, young faces. Congress took a firm decision on the demands of the people that Congress will not give tickets to defectors," Chodankar said.

"We will not allow defectors any support even if they are fielded by our alliance partners," the state Congress president added.