Goemkapronn desk
CANACONA: Even as the Lok Sabha elections in the Canacona assembly segment were by and large peaceful, the VVPAT’s overall malfunctions and a few other incidents did not deter the BJP and Congress camps from claiming leads over the other leaving behind the regional outfit (RGP) nowhere in the run-up to win.
Canacona Constituency had the third highest voting percentage of 78.69% amongst the 20 assembly segments of South Goa with Sanguem topping at 82.20%.
BJP believes it has gained the highest voting pattern in its favour as a result of the Panna-Pramukh concept, where each of the voters has been approached, and convinced to vote for the party.
Incidents of polling officers applying ink to two fingers instead of one figure of a voter at one of the booths, and providing a broken wheelchair for handicapped and old people at another booth were some of the skirmishes reported on the voting day, while some curious electors also noticed poll officials at a certain polling-station taking two long hours to just Seal the EVM machines, before transporting the same past 8 pm after elections were closed exactly at 6 pm.
Interestingly, BJP Canacona block is upbeat that a lead of nothing less than 8500 for BJP’s Pallavi Dempo is going to get in Canacona constituency, while Congress-led INDIA stated a valiant fight is given inspite of all the odds is most likely to concede a lead of around 3000-3500 to BJP in Canacona, but its candidate Capt Viriato Fernandes is winning the South-Goa seat comfortably.
According to sources, going by the pattern of voting that took place on Tuesday, congress is getting a certain lead in Agonda, Shristhal panchayat while going neck-to-neck in ST-dominated Gaondongrim and Khotigao villages with a possibility of taking a slender lead of about 150 in both the ST villages.
Several voters in this ST-dominated belt who are otherwise die-hard BJP voters are believed to have voted against the BJP and some of them revolted by voting for the Revolutionary Goans Party candidate Rubert Pereira. Congress is believed to have garnered a substantial vote share, particularly from the disgruntled lot against Canacona BJP MLA Ramesh Tawadkar. Congress is believed to have not done very well in Poinguinim panchayat, even in the traditional Congress stronghold area, and is most likely to concede some crucial lead to the BJP in this panchayat.
Loliem is another area, where the contest is likely to go neck–to–neck, and the possibility of Congress doing better can be a reality if the voting pattern in Maxem, Shellim, Peddem, and Kajalkar is any indication. Polem and Agas and the remaining parts may neutralise the leads gained by Congress for BJP.
Municipality could play not only a crucial role but will also decide the lead BJP can garner in the constituency. Over the 7900 voting taken place in municipal areas, BJP is banking on much of the votes into its kitty. Overall congress expects to concede a slender lead to the BJP in Canacona.
I.N.D.I.Alliance Spokesperson Vikas Bhagat in a straight response, said, ‘Canacona has delivered a strong mandate through silent but resolute voting. Despite facing challenges, particularly the lack of support from the majority of Councilors and Panchayats in our canvassing efforts for the INDI Alliance candidate, our dedicated supporters from AAP, Congress and Goa Forward came together as a unified force.
We made our presence felt at every booth, embodying our commitment to truth against falsehood and chaos. Our performance has been commendable and we anticipate a significant wave of support in our favour when the results are unveiled on June 4th.
Congress Canaocna block president Abel Tome Borges, when approached informed that INDI Alliance did exceptionally well, inspite of all the odds thrown at it, and the alliance partners have also contributed in their own strength. We had ample silent votes in all the segments, and we literarily bank on such voters to show their faith in congress party candidate in South Goa and congress party’s national leadership.’, Borges.
As for ST votes, the BJP mandal anticipates 75% of the 90% of the votes polled in the ST belt (Gaondongrim- Khotigao-Shrithal-Poinguinim), the highest amongst the different communities of the constituency.
“We expect a lead of over 8500 + in Canacona’, and it’s solely because of the organised Karyakarta. The Panna-Pramukh concept played a vital role in reaching out to every voter of the constituency and voting for BJP’, informed Canaocna BJP mandal president Vishal Dessai.
‘In fact, we have 1147 Panna-pramukh in the 59 booths of Canacona alone. Each one of these panna pramukhs had the responsibility to reach out to 30 voters (mentioned on One page), and here is the gain BJP is banking on. The next is Booth-pramuk with 11 committee members in each booth. Similarly, we had all the BJP Karyakartas, Sarpanchas (6) and many panchas of all the 7 VPs of Canacona, besides, the including the Chairperson all the other 11 councillors CMC working wholeheartedly for the BJP party. In fact, kindly convey our thanks to them all in your esteemed daily, asked Dessai, when contacted for his take on Tuesday’s election.
BJP expects leads in all 7 village panchayats and one municipality of Canacona in the constituency.
