After 25 years of consecutive run, the BJP on Thursday lost the Panaji Assembly constituency to Congress’s Atanasio Monserrate by 1,758 votes.
The seat was represented by the late Goa Chief Minister and former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar for a maximum of the period since 1994.
While Mr. Monserrate polled 8,748 votes, the BJP candidate polled 6,990 votes. AAP’s Valmiki Naik and Subhash Velingkar of the Goa Suraksha Manch polled 236 and 516 votes, respectively.
“This is a victory of the Congress party and a vote for the development of the State capital, which it was deprived of, for the last so many years,” Mr. Monserrate said after the result was announced.
The bypoll in Panaji Assembly constituency was held following the death of MLA and Chief Minister Parrikar on March 17 following a prolonged battle with pancreatic cancer.
Mr. Parrikar had first won in Panaji in 1994 and retained it until 2014 when he was inducted in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet. In his absence, the seat was represented twice by his aide Mr. Kuncalienkar. On his return to State politics in 2017, Manohar Parrikar was once again elected as Panaji MLA in a bypoll held following his taking over as Chief Minister of BJP-led coalition government.
The BJP’s campaign had received a setback after party workers resented the manner in which the late Parrikar’s elder son Utpal was snubbed by the party’s State leadership in his bid for the ticket for the Panaji bypoll.
In his FB post on Thursday, Utpal Parrikar said that the loss of Panaji seat was very painful.
“Having said that, I am only reminded of words uttered by our late leader Atalji when BJP was reduced to two seats in Lok Sabha. “Darkness will be dispelled, Sun will rise and Lotus will bloom”. In democracy, collective wisdom always lies with the people. Hard work is needed to win back people’s trust,” said Mr.Utpal.
