Goemkarponn Desk
PANAJI/MARGAO: The ruling BJP and Congress backed by united opposition managed to retain their North and South Goa Lok Sabha seats. However, while BJP’s vote share in its stronghold North recorded a sharp decline, Congress managed to rise in the South with a marginal jump in its vote count.
Pramod Sawant-led BJP failed to make their way into South Goa despite the Women’s card, even though it was able to keep its vote share intact.
While BJP’s Shripad Yesso Naik won from North Goa with a whopping 250799 vote margin, in South the first-time contender of Congress Captain Viriato Fernandes took away the crown with by polling 215672.
In North Goa, BJP candidate Shripad Naik was leading with 111353 votes by polling 250799 votes as against his nearest rival Ramakant Khalap who polled 139446 votes. RGP candidate Manoj Parab has polled 44603 votes.
As per the information on the Election Commission of India website Capt Viriato Fernandes has polled 215672 votes as against 200969 by Pallavi Dempo, giving him a lead of 14703 votes. Rubert Pereira of Revolutionary Goans Party has polled 18679 votes and stands at the third position.
NOTA (None of the Above) received more votes than some candidates in both North and South Goa. North Goa recorded 4,191 NOTA votes, while South Goa recorded 3,516 NOTA votes according to midway trends.
The election is also viewed as an acid test for Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, as he has to ensure that the BJP wrests the seat from the Congress to prove his own leadership capacity.
He had faced the last parliamentary elections (2019) within two months of taking over following the demise of then-chief minister Manohar Parrikar.
The BJP lost the South Goa seat to Congress’ Francisco Sardinha even as the Modi wave swept other parts of the country. Under Parrikar, BJP’s Narendra Sawaikar won the South Goa seat in 2014.
“We all knew that BJP would win North Goa Lok Sabha seat; BJP will also win at the centre, anti-incumbency could have been a factor for the drop in seats,” said Shripad Naik after his victory.
He further said that he was thankful to the people of North Goa for the one lakh plus victory.
Congress South Goa Candidate Capt Viriato Fernandes who won the South Goa Lok Sabha seat with a 15,000 plus margin said that it was the defeat of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who campaigned in Cortalim.
“Its defeat of PM Narendra Modi who campaigned in Cortalim, Congress received a lead of 3000 votes. It is a moral defeat for PM Modi,” said Viriato.
In North Goa, BJP fielded incumbent MP Shripad Naik against Congress’ Ramakant Khalap and RGP chief Manoj Parab. Naik has held the seat since 1999 and seeks a seventh consecutive term.
In South Goa, the battle was between BJP’s Pallavi Shrinivas Dempo, Congress’ Capt. Viriato Fernandes and RGP’s Rubert Pereira. South Goa, a Congress bastion, has been won by the grand old party ten times while BJP has won it twice in 1999 and 2014.
The State Election Office had appointed 236 micro observers in North Goa and 242 for the South Goa constituency. Also, 282 counting supervisors for North Goa and 220 for South Goa, have been deployed.
Apart from this, there were 282 counting assistants for North Goa 210 for South Goa, and 376 and 210 returning officers for North and South respectively.
In the South Goa Lok Sabha constituency, there were a total of 5,91,163 registered voters on the electoral rolls for the 2024 Lok Sabha election, of which 2,86,398 were male, 3,04,757 female and 8 of the third gender.
