May 23: Fate of 2 LS, 4 Assembly bypolls to be decided

The fate of two Lok Sabha seats and four Assembly bypolls in Goa will be revealed when counting gets underway on May 23.

The Lok Sabha polls on April 23 netted a 74.72 voting percentage, but it was the elections to four Assembly bypolls which generated tremendous interest in the coastal state, where the BJP-led coalition government survives with a slender majority and a few setbacks in the Assembly bypolls could put the state government in peril.

“I have said this before and I am saying it again. The Congress will move to form a government, soon after the results are announced on May 23,” Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar told DH.

The Pramod Sawant-led coalition government currently has the support of 19 MLAs, in the 36-member state legislative Assembly out of which 14 MLAs belong to the BJP. The Congress on the other hand has 14 MLAs.

The results of the four bypolls could impact the fortunes of the BJP-led ruling dispensation, depending on how many seats the BJP manages to corner, following the high-voltage campaign which was conducted by the party, for the first time in the absence of former chief minister the late Manohar Parrikar, who died in March this year following a prolonged battle with pancreatic cancer.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant is defiant, saying that the Congress was making empty boasts.

“This government is firm. The coalition alliance parties and independent MLAs are still with us. And we all know that Modi ji (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) will return to power. No one dare threaten this government,” Sawant said.

As far as the elections to Goa’s two Lok Sabha seats are concerned, Union Minister of State for Ayush and sitting MP Shripad Naik takes on state Congress president Girish Chodankar for the North Goa seat, while former chief minister and Congressman Francisco Sardinha takes on sitting BJP South Goa MP Narendra Savaikar.