BJP on verge of majority in Goa, set to form government again

The Congress-GFP alliance won 12 seats, one seat less than what the BJP had won in 2017, and yet formed the government.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is poised to form the government in Goa again after the saffron outfit secured victory in 20 out of the 40 assembly seats on Thursday.

The BJP is expected to stake a claim to form the government. (PTI)

With one of the independents — Chandrakant Shetye, who defeated BJP candidate and speaker Rajesh Patnekar — publicly declaring after his victory that he would support the BJP, thereby ensuring the party has secured the necessary numbers. The BJP is expected to stake a claim to form the government.

“We have a majority. Before staking a claim, we need to take permission from the central parliamentary board. We will fulfil the process and accordingly stake claim. It is now a formality. The BJP will form a government, there is no doubt about it,” BJP desk in-charge Devendra Fadnavis said.

“Three independent candidates have expressed support to the BJP. We had said previously that even if we win 21 seats, we will take some more people along with us. Additionally, the, MGP (Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party) has also given a letter of support to the BJP. We are thankful to the MGP and the three candidates, and will form a government with a good majority of 25,” Fadnavis said.

The Congress accepted defeat in the state polls.

“We accept the verdict of the people of Goa. Our candidates fought a good election. They fought bravely against several obstacles and 11 of our candidates and one of our ally, the Goa Forward Party (GFP), won. We respect the verdict, unlike some other party, which did not respect the verdict in 2017,” Congress observer P Chidambaram said.

The Congress-GFP alliance won 12 seats, one seat less than what the BJP had won in 2017, and yet formed the government.

The Congress, which was reduced to a single legislator in the legislative assembly in Digambar Kamat — after 16 of the 17 who were elected in 2017 joined other parties — has won 11 seats.

The AAP has opened its account with two, while the MGP that was hoping to play kingmaker, has won only two. The Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) and the Goa Forward Party won one seat each.

The rise of RGP, however, has taken everyone by surprise as the party narrowly won one seat, but polled more votes in over a dozen constituencies while also beating the Congress and the BJP in votes in other constituencies.

“The stupendous rise of the Revolutionary Goans only shows that the Hindu Catholic Bahujan vote share was in dire need of a new option and tired of the usual suspects,” researcher Kaustubh Naik said.

The BJP benefited from a split of votes among the opposition ranks that helped the outfit to emerge as the single-largest party, political analyst Adv Cleofato Almeida Coutinho said.

“In over a dozen constituencies, the vote has split in three ways, allowing the BJP to benefit,” Coutinho said.

The BJP won a vote share of 33.3%, while the Congress won 23.46% of the total votes cast, around 5 percentage points lower than 2017, when it had won 28% vote share.

The MGP won 7.26% vote share, AAP 6.77% , and the Trinamool Congress 5.21%. However, the others category, which included the RGP and independents, won as much as 19.33% vote share.

In a day of counting that was defined by fine margins, the BJP edged its rivals in three constituencies by thin margins.

In Ponda, former chief minister and BJP’s Ravi Naik won by a mere 77 votes against Ketan Bhatikar of the MGP. In Navelim (south Goa), the BJP’s Ulhas Tuenkar won by a margin of 430 votes after the opposition vote split five ways between the Congress, the AAP and the TMC, while in Priol the BJP’s Govid Gaude defeated the MGP’s Deepak Dhavalikar by 213 votes.

Chief minister Pramod Sawant narrowly won his seat but saw the victory margin reduced to some 600 votes, less than half the margin in 2017.

The results were humbling for the Trinamool Congress, which failed to open its account. It was also a bad day in the office for the 12 MLAs who defected to the BJP mid-term, claiming protection being two-thirds of the party that was switching. Only three of the 12 (10 Congress and 2 MGP) MLAs who switched to the BJP have been re-elected — Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate , Jennifer Monserrate and Nilkanth Halarnkar.

Chief minister Pramod Sawant expressed his gratitude after winning the people’s mandate.

“I thank the people of Goa. Will take swayampurna (self-reliant) Goa plan ahead. We are getting a majority. Independents and other parties are coming to us. Infrastructure development under PM Modi has helped us. Party has had faith in me to lead the campaign. I am happy that the party has got a majority,” Sawant said.

The BJP went into the elections with a commanding majority of 27 in the 40-member assembly, while the Congress was reduced to a lone MLA, having suffered due to defection of its MLAs over the past five years.

In a bid to beat anti-incumbency, the BJP had denied tickets to seven of its sitting MLAs it felt would bear the brunt of anti-incumbency, while an eighth was made to change his constituency. Their replacements have won, helping the party secure the necessary numbers.

The ruling BJP set ideology aside and gave tickets to those it wooed prior to the polls, much to the chagrin of its workers in five constituencies, bringing over legislators from the Congress, the Goa Forward Party, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and independents. Three MGP imports, two independents and one former Congressman bagged seats for the party.

This was prominent in the Panaji constituency where the party denied ticket to Manohar Parrikar’s son Utpal in favour of Atanasio Monserrate, who won by 600 odd votes.

“I fought the unofficial candidate of the BJP as well as the Congress. If he (Utpal) bagged so many votes, it means the cadre shifted their votes to him. I joined the BJP two years ago. The cadre has not accepted me in the party. The party did nothing for me from day one,” Monserrate said.

Meanwhile, the Congress blamed its failure to win on the split in voting. “The anti-incumbency vote split five ways and benefited the BJP,” Congress’s Michael Lobo said.

“Seven to nine seats were lost because of a split in the votes. I take full responsibility for the result,” state Congress president Girish Chodankar said.

Voting in Goa was held on February 14 and the state witnessed a turnout of 79.61%.