Congress announces candidates for North, South Goa Lok Sabha seats

Panaji: The Congress on Saturday announced the names of former Union minister Ramakant Khalap and Viriato Fernandes as its candidates for the North and South Goa Lok Sabha seats.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K C Venugopal made the announcement ending the I.N.D.I.A. bloc’s prolonged wait for its candidates in Goa.

The alliance comprising more than two dozen opposition parties has agreed to field Congress candidates from both the Lok Sabha constituencies in the coastal state.

Khalap (76) was elected as an MP on the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) ticket from North Goa from 1996-1998.

He was the Union minister of state for law in late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s cabinet. He later left the MGP to join Congress.

As a law minister then, Khalap worked for the enactment of the Arbitration Act of India and drafted amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure of India and the Code of Criminal Procedures of India.

He also introduced the Women's Reservation Bill in Parliament.

Fernandes, the Congress's candidate from South Goa, is an ex-Indian Navy officer.

His profile on X handle states that he was a retired officer of the Indian Navy, a “Kargil War soldier, mechanical engineer, aeronautics engineering specialisation and double MBA".

Fernandes unsuccessfully contested the 2022 Goa legislative assembly elections from the Dabolim constituency.

The Lok Sabha polls in Goa will be held in a single phase on May 7, and the counting of votes will be held on June 4.

The ruling BJP has already announced candidates for North Goa (Shripad Naik) and South Goa (Pallavi Dempo) seats.

The North Goa seat has been a bastion of the ruling BJP since 1999, while South Goa, which has a sizable Christian population has mostly remained with the Congress, but was also won by the BJP and regional parties a few times.