Team Goemkarponn
Panaji: Political analyst and commentator Vishal Pai Cacode has said that the Congress party’s electoral performance in Salcete during the 2024 Lok Sabha and recent Zilla Panchayat elections was the result of sustained grassroots work by loyal party workers, and not due to imported leadership, tactical manoeuvres or opportunistic alliances.
In a detailed analysis of the election results, Cacode said the verdict from Salcete “exposes the myth of manufactured strategy and highlights the truth of organisational strength on the ground.” He stated that Congress victories were earned through years of door-to-door campaigning, ideological consistency and personal credibility built by local workers.
“The results in Salcete were not engineered in drawing rooms or achieved through political shortcuts. They were earned through loyalty, discipline and a deep connect with the people,” Cacode said, warning against attempts to project opportunistic leaders as “architects of victory.”
Citing constituency-wise data from the South Goa Lok Sabha elections, Cacode pointed out that Congress candidate Capt. Viriato Fernandes received his highest leads from traditional Congress strongholds driven by grassroots workers. Benaulim recorded the highest lead of 14,181 votes, followed by Nuvem (13,688), Velim (13,350), Curtorim (9,188) and Navelim (5,770). The lowest lead came from Cuncolim at 5,548 votes.
“These figures clearly show where the real organisational strength lies,” he said, adding that the narrative of centralised leadership driving the victory does not stand up to scrutiny when compared with the broader electoral map.
Cacode also contrasted the Salcete performance with other constituencies, noting that Fatorda delivered a comparatively modest lead of 2,437 votes, while in Margao, Congress workers managed to restrict the BJP lead to just 1,323 votes in a multi-cornered contest. Quepem, represented by a Congress MLA, recorded a narrow lead of 784 votes.
He further claimed that several senior Congress leaders, including the Leader of Opposition, failed to make any electoral impact in constituencies such as Ponda, Shiroda, Madkai, Mormugao, Vasco, Dabolim, Sanvordem, Sanguem and Canacona. Even in Curchorem, the BJP retained a lead of 1,697 votes, despite it being contested earlier by the current Congress president.
Rejecting claims that AAP or a so-called “United Opposition” boosted Congress performance in Salcete, Cacode said the Zilla Panchayat election results exposed these assertions as false. He noted that Congress candidates won in Benaulim and Velim despite the presence of sitting AAP MLAs, and secured victories in multiple constituencies irrespective of the Revolutionary Goans Party’s participation.
“The Zilla Panchayat results once again prove that it was the Congress’ organic connect with the people that delivered success,” he said.
Cacode also criticised the induction of political defectors into the party, describing it as a dangerous trend. “Rewarding party hoppers while sidelining loyal workers is the first step towards the saffronisation of the Congress,” he warned.
He concluded that Salcete’s electoral verdict is a clear reminder that voters reward commitment and loyalty, not convenience or opportunism. “Parties rarely collapse due to external attacks alone. They erode from within when loyalty is devalued and ideology is compromised in the name of ‘strategy’,” Cacode said.
