With just around 10-12 days left for D-Day, the entire Congress machinery and INDI alliance seems to be focused on the South Goa seat, indicating that the party has already given up on the seat.
Right from GPCC president Amit Patkar, Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao, AICC leader Girish Chodankar, Goa Forward chief Vijai Sardesai, AAP MLAs – Venzy Viegas, Cruz Silva are all focussed on the South Goa seat leaving North Goa candidate Ramakant Khalap to fend for himself.
Twenty-five years ago, in 1999, Shripad Bhau Naik defeated the sitting Member of Parliament, who was also a Union Minister Ramakant Khalap, to win his first parliamentary elections.
Come 2024, there seems to be a rematch now as Congress has once again fielded veteran Ramakant Khalap against the 5-time MP Shripad Naik in North Goa.
Can Ramakant Khalap defeat Shirpad to avenge his loss in 1999?
After 1999, it seemed like curtains for Khalap’s political career, until the Congress decided to give him another chance 25 years later. If he loses, it surely is curtains for him now.
However, similar could be the fate of Shripad Naik as he has already announced this would be his last election and has asked the party to look out for his successor.
The North Goa statistics…
The influence of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in North Goa has been significant. Up until 2024, there have been 14 Lok Sabha elections in this seat, with BJP winning five times, Congress five times, and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party four times.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, BJPs Shripad Yesso Naik won the North Goa seat with a majority of 80,247 votes.
Naik received 2,44,844 votes, while Congress’s Girish Ray Chodankar received 1,64,597 votes. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, BJP Shripad Yesso Naik won the North Goa seat.
North Goa is one of the two Lok Sabha parliamentary constituencies in Goa. According to the schedule, Goa will vote in just one phase on May 7 for its two Lok Sabha constituencies.
The coastal state has two Lok Sabha constituencies: North Goa and South Goa.
The BJP has won the South Goa constituency only twice since 1962.
In the 2019 general elections, the North Goa seat was won by BJP candidate Shripad Yesso Naik, while the South Goa seat was won by Congress candidate Cosme Francisco Caitano Sardinha.
Voting for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases, starting on April 19 and ending on June 1. The results will be declared on June 4.
Stakes in North Goa…
As per political pundits, the stakes are very high for both Congress and BJP in North Goa. BJP does not want to lose its bastion while Congress does not want to see another defeat (6th in a row) in the North.
The Congress workers’ body language, however, says otherwise.
It is only Adv Carlos Alvares Fereira, the Aldona MLA, who has been waging a lone battle for Congress in the North.
