As the curtains came down on the hard-fought and high-pitched Lok Sabha elections amid the sweltering heat in Goa on Tuesday, it will be nearly a month-long tense wait for the electoral fortunes to be known. The counting of votes across the country will take place on June 4.
Many of the BJP office bearers, including Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant, are scheduled to canvass in other states.
The long wait is frustrating…
While many leaders would campaign for respective parties in other states, the candidates would have a frustrating time of one month as they await their fate.
Impact of guarantees
The Congress has challenged the BJP in Goa through the effective implementation of the five guarantees, which it promised ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections. It set a counter-narrative to the BJP’s Hindutva plank or the “Modi effect” through the guarantees and a more organised campaign, making the poll outcome prediction difficult, at least in South Goa, where the margin of victory could be narrow, as a result.
Political observers believe that this election, in the absence of a perceived wave, was fought at the constituency level with each displaying different trends based on individuals and local issues.
The bJP has fought the election on development “Viksit Bharat” and the central funding for the State from the Modi government in the last 10 years.
Salcete holds the key….
The eight constituencies of Salcete taluka – Nuvem, Curtorim, Fatorda, Margao, Benaulim, Navelim, Cuncolim and Velim hold the key to the South Goa outcome. Out of 20 constituencies, eight with a Christian majority population are in this constituency and have a voting population of approximately 2,40,000.
More than 70 per cent voting percentage means that 1.6 lakh have voted and that’s a bad signal for the BJP.
In 2019, Congress’ Francisco Sardinha had a lead of 51,000 in Salcete itself.
However, last time MGP was with Congress and as such the Hindu heartland – Ponda this time is entirely with BJP.
Hence, experts say, Congress’ Viriato Fernandes will have to pull a lead of atleast 70000 in Salcete against BJP’s Pallavi Dempo to score a win in South Goa.
This is because, the lesser lead in Salcete could be negated in Ponda, Shiroda, Madkai, Mormugao, Dabolim, Cortalim, Cortalim, Quepem, Curchorem, Sanvordem, Sanguem and Canacona.
High voter turnout…
The rural assembly segments have witnessed a higher voter turnout compared to urban areas in the elections to the two Lok Sabha seats in Goa, as per the Election Commission’s data.
Goa recorded 75.20 percent turnout during polling across 1,725 booths on Tuesday. The voting was 76.34 percent in the North Goa Lok Sabha seat and 73.90 percent in the South Goa parliamentary constituency, according to the data released by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Poriem, Sankhalim and Valpoi assembly segments, located in the rural belt of North Goa Lok Sabha constituency, recorded high voting. The Poriem assembly segment, represented by BJP MLA Deviya Rane, recorded 87.11 percent turnout, followed by 86.5 percent in Sankhalim assembly segment, represented by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, as per the ECI data.
The Valpoi assembly segment, represented by Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, recorded 82.97 percent voting.