NEW MLA, NEW VISION
“For this win, I am very much thankful to Quepemkars who stood with me, trusted me. In future, my vision for the Quepem constituency is to make this constituency number one in all aspects, especially in education, agriculture and sports, which will be the main priority. For these things to achieve, proper infrastructure in the panchayat area of Quepem constituency is needed.”
Altone D’Costa
Quepem MLA-elect
Christanand Pednekar/ Goemkarponn desk
QUEPEM: Congress candidate Altone D’Costa became a giant killer by defeating the former deputy Chief Minister of Goa and BJP candidate Babu Kavlekar in the Assembly election.
This is the fifth time the Congress party has won the Quepem seat. Voters from the Quepem constituency have sent a clear message that freebies and Vitamin M are not everything at the end and what matters is the loyalty and trust of the voters in the candidate and the party.
If we look at the possible reasons behind the defeat of the Babu Kavlekar, people were not much in favour of the decision of his contesting in Sanguem. People in South Goa were totally against the Family Raj. Therefore, this couple was sent home by the people.
Another reason for Kavlekar’s defeat is that since his wife contested in Sanguem, many supporters of Subhash Faldesai from Quepem supported Congress candidate in Quepem. In Quepem, minorities played a decisive role every time, and this time too, people chose Congress candidate over the BJP candidate. These are a few reasons which likely played a role in the defeat of Kavlekar and the victory of D’Costa.
In his last four terms, Babu remained an MLA, and it was to his bad luck he lost elections as a minister and that too as Dy CM.
After his victory, Congress candidate Altone D’Costa took a victory rally with his supporters and Congress party workers, from Quepem town to Khola village where the constituency ends.
Later while addressing to press, Altone D’Costa said, “for this win, I am very much thankful to Quepemkars who stood with me, trusted me. In future, my vision for the Quepem constituency is to make this constituency number one in all aspects, especially in education, agriculture and sports, which will be the main priority. For these things to achieve, proper infrastructure in the panchayat area of Quepem constituency is needed.”
The people of Quepem and Congress supporters said the Quepem constituency maintained its record; this is the 5th time Congress won in the Quepem constituency. In the past four times, Babu Kavalekar had won on a Congress ticket, and this election, Altone D’costa won with a big margin sending shockers to Kavlekar and his BJP supporters from Quepem.
Altone D’Costa got 14,994 votes, while BJP’s Babu Kavalekar managed to get 11,393 votes. Revolutionary Goans Party’s Vishal Desai fetched 1144 votes, AAP’s Raul Pereira got 315 votes, TMC’s Kanta Gawade got 161 votes, and Shiv Sena’s Alexy Fernandes hardly managed to get 66 votes, and he not even crossed the 100 mark in the Quepem constituency.
