Congress is fighting the Goa polls in conjunction with the Goa Forward Party (GFP).
New Delhi:
With Goa reporting high turnout in Monday’s parliamentary elections, the state congress party radiated confidence in forming the government with a full majority.
According to official data from the Chief Electoral Officer, Goa achieved a turnout of 78.94 percent in the polls for the 40 assembly seats. The highest turnout was recorded in the Sanquelim constituency at 89.61 percent, while the lowest was in Benaulim at 70.2 percent.
Goa, the smallest state in the country, has only two districts—North Goa and South Goa. North Goa registered a maximum turnout of 79 percent, then South Goa with 78 percent.
With these figures, the Congress party assessed the political situation and the results of the parliamentary elections in the state, which will be announced on March 10.
Dinesh Gundu Rao told ANI, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) responsible for Goa, “People have come in large numbers to cast a decisive vote and their expression will be seen in the results.”
Analyzing that there was a wave of “anti-incumbency” in the BJP-ruled state, the Congress leader said, “People want the BJP gone.”
“There’s a huge anti-establishment wave and that’s why this big vote is happening. I think it’s going to be a very good outcome for Congress and we’re going to get an absolute majority. This is what’s grounding our people have tell us too,” he added.
He further argued that the highest voter turnout in Sanquelim, where the BJP had sent Prime Minister Pramod Sawant, is due to the popular anger against him.
“It shows that there is great anger against the Chief Minister. In his constituency we saw the Chief Minister get desperate and go door to door because he knew he would lose the election. The high turnout in his constituency is a very good thing for us. Our congressional candidate will come through in the contest,” said Mr. Rao.
Congress had lined up Dharmesh Saglani against Sawant.
Notably, Sawant has won the Sanquelim seat twice. While he lost the 2008 bypoll to Pale, in 2012 and 2017 Sawant won from the Sanquelim or Sankhali seat.
Congress is fighting the Goa polls in conjunction with the Goa Forward Party (GFP).
Rao said the alliance will prove fruitful, resulting in an outright majority.
“The people of Goa want a stable government and they want to give a clear mandate. This was building a quiet storm. They want to end the ‘Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram’ politics in the state. I look forward to more than 20 seats for us and BJP will find it very difficult to even exceed a single digit number,” Rao said.
