E-Paper
BJP-backed panel sweeps corporation polls in Goa’s Panaji
The BJP’s gamble to back the panel set up by newly inducted Atanasio Monserrate at the cost of the party’s old guard paid off spectacularly in the municipal elections in Panaji with the panel winning 25 of the 30 seats
The BJP’s gamble to back the panel set up by newly inducted Atanasio Monserrate at the cost of the party’s old guard paid off spectacularly in the municipal elections in Panaji with the panel winning 25 of the 30 seats.
The panel was made up of a mix of old BJP candidates and those who realigned with the party after Monserrate switched sides in September 2019.
Monserrate, who has a history of party hopping, joined the BJP in the autumn of 2019 along with nine other Congress legislators, has for long been the ‘opposition’ face in the city council for as long as the BJP-backed panel controlled the Mayor’s post.
Although municipal elections in Goa are not held along party lines, the respective local MLA fields a ‘panel’ of candidates that he/she publicly acknowledge of backing them. In the case of Panaji a panel comprising of Bharatiya Janata Party backed candidates led by then chief minister and local MLA for 25 years Manohar Parrikar used to go head to head against a set of candidates set up by Monserrate, who was the MLA from the neighbouring Taleigao constituency, part of which falls under the Panaji municipal area.
With Monserrate now in the BJP, the state party leadership has allowed him to decide which candidates are to be officially backed by the party and in the process several long time BJP supporters have been sidelined. The decision prompted a rebellion of sorts by those within the BJP who are uncomfortable at the fact that Monserrate, once their bete noire, is now calling the shots within the BJP.
Leading the rebellion was former MLA Siddharth Kunaliencar, a former Parrikar aide along with Parrikar’s elder son Utpal Parrikar besides others who threw their weight behind candidates other than those set up by Monserrate.
The Congress and AAP, which had jointly fielded candidates through a panel ‘Ami Ponnjekar’ (We the People of Panaji) did manage to hold on to their traditional stronghold winning core residential areas within the Panaji city including the upscale neighbourhoods of Miramar and Dona Paula.
The elections in the capital city were held using EVMs while in the five other councils -- Pernem, Valpoi, Bicholim, Curchorem-Cacora and Cuncolim the elections were held using ballot paper with results expected to be finalised later in the day.
