Concern for winners in Ponda Taluka, as compared to 2017, the vote share of all the four MLAs reduced significantly.
Ravi won with a slender margin of 77 votes, while Gaude’s margin was also reduced to just 213.
Goemkarponn desk
PONDA: All the four MLA-elect in Ponda taluka are seriously introspecting and concerned about their performance as their votes were reduced compared to the 2017 election.
There is a hot discussion and a question mark over their popularity and future prospects after decreased votes in the 2022 election.
Several political parties, including Revolutionary Goans (RG), besides independent candidates, sizeable secured votes may be the reason for reduced votes.
There were almost 31 candidates in Ponda Taluka, with an average of 8 per constituency.
However, reduced votes are a concern for them. For e.g. Marcaim MLA Sudin Dhavlikar in the 2017 election had obtained 17093 votes; however, in the 2022 election, he got 13963 votes. Thus his votes are reduced by 3130 votes.
Further, Sudin had won the 2017 election with a record winning margin of 13680 votes; however, his winning margin was reduced to 9963 votes this time. His rival BJP candidate got 4000 votes while Premanand Gaude of RG got 3488 votes while Congress candidate and friend turned foe Lavu Mamlatdar got 1090 votes.
Sudin Dhavlikar said his reduced vote share was due to the division of votes because several political parties, including RG and Independents, were in Frey.
Sudin’s 2017 highest winning margin record of 13680 votes was also broken in the 2022 election by Poriem MLA Deviya Rane by securing a record winning margin of 13943 votes. Deviya had got a total of 17816 votes.
Govind Gaude, elected as Independent MLA from Priol in 2017, had secured 15149 votes.
He had predicted winning the 2022 election with record votes; however, he got 11019; thus, his votes were reduced by 4130 votes compared to the 2017 election.
Further, Gaude won the seat with a winning margin of just 213 votes against his close MGP rival Deepak Dhavlikar who secured 10806 votes.
Further, Ponda MLA Ravi Naik had won the 2017 election with 9502 votes; however, in the 2022 election, he contested on BJP ticket wherein he got 7514 votes.
He won the Ponda seat with a thin winning margin of just 77 votes against MGP Dr Ketan Bhatikar, who secured 7437 votes.
Congress party candidate Rajesh Verenkar got 6839 votes.
In Shiroda, Subash Shirodkar, while contesting on Congress ticket, had secured 10661 votes in 2017; however, later, he joined BJP in 2019, and while contesting on BJP ticket in 2022, he secured 8307 votes with votes reduced by 2354 compared to 2017 election.
His rival AAP candidate Mahadev Naik secured 6133 votes while Revolutionary Goans (RG) candidate Shailesh Naik got 5063 votes.