Assembly Elections 2022: Ten fights to follow in Goa Family fiefdoms, leaders making or breaking parties’ electoral fortunes and demanding constituents, these poll battles promise drama and nail-biting finishes
PAMELA D'MELLO FEBRUARY 10, 2022 / 12:39 PM IST Watch out for cliffhangers and kingmakers in the Goa Assembly Elections 2022. (Representational image, Credit: Pexels) ----------------------------------------------------------- 1. Sanquelim: Mining town Sitting legislator and current chief minister Pramod Sawant is seeking re-election from this constituency in Sattari taluka for the third time. Sawant was appointed as chief minister by the central leadership of the BJP, after the untimely demise of Manohar Parrikar in March 2019. On February 14, he will face Dharmesh Saglani of the Indian National Congress. Saglani is no pushover. He heads the Sanquelim Municipal Council and recently scored another win in the council. As a mining area, Sanquelim faces high unemployment and disenchantment over failure to resume mining in some form. Current MLA (Party): Dr Pramod Pandurang Sawant (BJP) Winning Margin: 2,131 Traditional Stronghold of BJP/ Dr Pramod Pandurang Sawant Main Poll Issue: Closure of mining, Unemployment, Inflation Voter Demographics: Total Population: 37,867 Total voters: 27,491. Male voters: 13,557 Female voters: 13,934 Voter turnout at last poll (2017): 90.43 % ----------------------------------------------------------- 2. Margao: Kamat’s dominion This is former Congress chief minister Digambar Kamat's stronghold, and it has backed him solidly over the years. He won the seat for the BJP initially, but voters stayed with him even when he switched to the Congress in 2005. The BJP has been unable to unseat Kamat from this seat, despite their best efforts. Though the Congress has not officially announced it, Kamat is the de facto chief ministerial candidate of the Congress in 2022, making Margao a seat to watch. He led their government from 2007-2012. The commercial city of Margao is also the taluka headquarters of the Catholic dominated Salcete taluka, the South Goa District headquarters and an important cultural and intellectual centre. Current MLA (Party): Digambar Vasant Kamat (Indian National Congress) Winning Margin: 4186 Traditional Stronghold Indian National Congress/Digamber Vasant Kamat Main Poll Issue: Unemployment, a legacy garbage dump, sewerage, traffic congestion, demand of burial ground for Muslims, Water shortages Voter Demographics: Total Population: 40,392 Total voters: 29,434 Male voters: 14,435 Female voters: 14,999 Voter turnout at last poll (2017): 78.55 % ----------------------------------------------------------- 3. Marcaim: Hindutva politics’ stronghold A stronghold of Goa's oldest regional party, the Hindutva leaning Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and its current leader Ramkrishna Sudin Dhavlikar, this interior Goa segment of Marcaim is in the temple taluka of Ponda. Dhavlikar has been winning here for multiple terms since 1999, the last time in 2017 with the highest electoral margin in those polls. MGP is in an alliance with the Trinamool Congress in Goa, and though the alliance has not officially named Dhavlikar, he is the defacto chief ministerial candidate of that alliance. The MGP has managed to win between 3-5 seats in the past four assembly terms and has adroitly managed its numbers to stay on the winning side, joining either the Congress or the BJP in several hung assembly verdicts or to shore up treasury bench numbers. With that strategy, Dhavlikar has been a minister in successive governments, and was last deputy chief minister in the BJP coalition government, before he was dropped in 2019. The regional saffron MGP's electoral and political fortunes are tied up with Sudin Dhavlikar and his brother Pandurang Deepak Dhavlikar, who run the party, and some say prefer it not expand, to retain control of its fortunes. Marcaim is also the headquarters of the controversial Hindutva Sanatan Saunstha organisation, and the family maintains close links with the same. Current MLA (Party): Ramkrishna Sudin Dhavlikar (Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party) Winning Margin: 13,680 Traditional Stronghold of Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party/ Ramkrishna Sudin Dhavlikar Main Poll Issue: Unemployment, Lack of Playgrounds Voter Demographics: Total population: 38,345 Total voters: 28,151 Male voters: 13,826 Female voters: 14,325 Voter turnout at last poll (2017): 86.55 % ----------------------------------------------------------- 4. Panjim: Son versus a defector As the capital city, this constituency on the Mandovi river bank, is important in itself. This time it is seeing a triangular contest between sitting MLA Atanasio Monserrate; independent candidate and BJP rebel Utpal Parrikar; and Congress candidate, a former bureaucrat and twice municipal commissioner of the city, Elvis Gomes. Also in the running is the Aam Aadmi Party's Valmiki Naik, whose groundwork and outreach during the pandemic has earned him much admiration. Panjim was represented by former chief minister Manohar Parrikar from 1994-2019, a run of over 25 years before his untimely demise in 2019. Monserrate was elected on a Congress platform in the byelection that followed in 2019, but he crossed over to the BJP shortly after. He has now been fielded by the BJP in Panjim, causing Parrikar's son Utpal, who was eyeing the seat, to rebel against the party. The high profile rebellion has created huge negative optics for the BJP. Contesting as an independent, Utpal's campaign has been low profile, but has garnered considerable media interest. The big question is will Utpal Parrikar, a political novice, be able to wrest the seat from the far more experienced Monserrate, based on his family name and his late father's legacy. The battle for Panjim is one of the most watched contests in the Goa election. Current MLA (party): Atanasio Monserrate (Congress/BJP) Winning Margin: 1758 Traditional Stronghold of BJP/ Atanasio Monserrate Main Poll Issue: Unemployment, flooding, water supply, parking and traffic congestion, nuisance from casinos and major events. Voter Demographics: Total population:32,174 Total voters: 22,489 Male voters: 10,619 Female voters: 11,870 ----------------------------------------------------------- 5. Valpoi: CM aspirant’s constituency BJP health minister Vishwajit Rane's stronghold of Valpoi, in the foothills of the Western Ghats, is a family stronghold. This is what helped him in 2017, when he contested on a BJP ticket within months of being elected on a Congress ticket. When the Congress failed to form a government, Vishwajit Rane swiftly resigned as MLA, to beat the anti-defection law, crossed over and joined the BJP to make up its numbers in a hung assembly. In the resultant bye-election, Vishwajit re-contested and won the seat again that same year. Having nursed the constituency assiduously, providing government jobs to many of its voters, Vishwajit is well placed to win the seat. Though the BJP has indicated that Pramod Sawant will continue as chief minister if the party comes to power, Vishwajit Rane is considered a rival and contender for that position within the party. Current MLA (party): Vishwajit Pratapsingh Rane (BJP) Winning Margin: 5,678 Traditional Stronghold of Congress/Vishwajit Pratapsingh Rane Main Poll Issue: Land rights, forest rights Voter Demographics: Total Population: 38,818 Total Voters: 31,076 Male Voters: 15,350 Female voters: 15,726 Voter turnout in 2017: 87.83 % ----------------------------------------------------------- 6. Fatorda: Leader who titled the scale A suburb of Margao, the Fatorda assembly segment in South Goa has been returning firebrand young politician Vijai Sardesai, for the past two terms. Sardesai, who formed and heads the Goa Forward Party, is an alliance partner of the Indian National Congress in the 2022 election. Sardesai's switch–from taking a strident anti-BJP stance before the 2017 election to joining the BJP in coalition and giving it the numbers it needed after a hung verdict–changed the course of the state, giving the BJP a government though it lost that election. This time Sardesai is back on an anti-BJP platform, in a pre poll alliance with the Congress, seeking reelection here for the third term. He is up against long-time rival in the constituency Damu Naik of the BJP, who held the seat for two earlier terms. The Congress held Fatorda in the nineties. Current MLA (party): Vijai Sardesai (Goa Forward Party) Winning Margin: 1,334 Traditional Stronghold of Goa Forward Party/ Vijai Sardesai Main Poll Issue: Garbage treatment, unemployment, burial grounds Voter Demographics: Total Population: 43,450 Total voters: 30,600 Male voters: 14,624 Female voters: 15,976 Voter Turnout in last poll (2017): 79.48 % ----------------------------------------------------------- 7. Dabolim: Green concerns The constituency adjoining Vasco city has seen active protests against the coal-hub infrastructure and the three linear projects–a highway, a power-transmission line and a railway line. Represented for several years by Mauvin Godinho, the constituency includes the airport area. A longtime Congress party member, Godinho shifted before the 2017 polls, winning the seat on a BJP ticket. He is seeking another term in 2022 and is pitted against the Congress's Capt Viriato Fernandes, a charismatic grassroots activist who has been fighting environmental issues in the state. Current MLA (Party): Mauvin Godinho (BJP) Winning Margin: 2,494 Traditional Stronghold of Mauvin Godinho Main Poll Issue: Unemployment, coal hub infrastructure damage to environment, constitution of the Mormugao Port Authority and its extensive powers, low private sector wages, conversion of agricultural land, erratic power supply, irregular water supply Voter Demographics: Total Population:41,871 Total voters:23,602 Male voters: 11,805 Female voters: 11,797 Voter turnout at last poll: 77.14 % ----------------------------------------------------------- 8. Calangute: Money-spinner but demanding A tourism hub crowded with restaurants, hotels and pubs, Calangute in North Goa is both a money spinner and a management nightmare. The political tussle in Calangute will be keenly watched, as three of its political biggies tussle across three parties, the Congress, BJP and TMC. Shifting from the BJP is Michael Lobo, the sitting MLA and former minister. Lobo won the seat twice for the BJP, but sensing the changing voter mood in this constituency, shifted to the Congress before the poll. A can-do politician, with a people connect, Lobo's ambitions to extend his reach to neighbouring constituencies, to bring surrounding villages under urban planning bodies that would see their rapid concretisation, has created controversy. His entry into the Congress has sent its aspirants to the TMC and BJP. Current MLA (Party): Michael Lobo (BJP) Winning Margin: 3,825 Traditional Stronghold of Congress/ Michael Lobo Main Poll Issue: Denotification of villages from the Planning and Development Authority, noise pollution, dance bars, tourist saturation, garbage, littering, beach mismanagement. Voter Demographics: Total Population: 33,387 Total voters: 25,389 Male voters: 12,389 Female voters: 13,000 Voter turnout at last poll (2017):81.84 % ----------------------------------------------------------- 9.Poriem: Generational drama The family seat of former Congress chief minister Pratapsingh Rane made waves because of a will-he-won't-he drama that played out before filing of nominations. Pratapsingh Rane has held the seat for eleven terms and a record fifty years. With his son Vishwajit, now in the BJP, the Congress was keen that Pratapsingh contest and keep the seat within the Congress fold. Vishwajit however had been grooming his wife Deviya to take on the mantle, considering his 83-year-old father is past another election. The BJP meanwhile bestowed lifetime cabinet status on the senior statesman, as a placatory gesture to have the seat in its kitty. It nominated Deviya Rane for the BJP ticket in Poriem. Pratapsingh Rane gave the impression of being keen to contest as a loyal Congressman and defer any suggestion that he had switched sides. He finally bowed out of the race on the penultimate day, after a bit of drama that seemed like he would contest against his daughter-in-law. The Congress kept the seat open for him, finally nominating another Rane, Ranjit Rane from the same clan to fight the seat. Another clan member, Vishwajit K Rane, has moved from the BJP to AAP, making it a contest of the Ranes in Poriem. Current MLA (party): Pratapsingh Raoji Rane (Congress) Winning Margin: 4,066 Traditional Stronghold of Congress/Pratapsingh Raoji Rane Main Poll Issue: Land rights, Unemployment Voter Demographics: Total population: 42,477 Total voters: 32,542 Male voters: 16,177 Female voters: 16,365 Voter turnout at last poll (2017) : 89.91 % ----------------------------------------------------------- 10: Vasco-da-Gama: Infra hub resists The port city of Vasco da Gama is Goa's most densely populated commercial city, which houses the Goa Shipyard, a defence establishment. Within and nearby are the sprawling Indian naval bases of INS Hansa and the Mormugao Port. The constituency has seen some of the biggest infrastructural projects of the government over the past years, creating road and rail networks to carry imported coal from private berths of the port to steel mills in neighbouring Karnataka. Increased coal handling and port expansion has seen continuing protests in the city and on the coal route, with citizens of the state protesting the location of a coal hub and coal movement. Seeking a third term is the sitting MLA, who has shifted parties this time to the Congress, after winning the seat twice as a BJP candidate. Current MLA (party): Jose Luis Carlos Almeida (BJP) Winning Margin: 1,351 Traditional Stronghold of BJP/ Jose Luis Carlos Almeida Main Poll Issue: Coal Pollution, Displacement of Fishing Communities and livelihoods due to Port Expansion, traffic congestion, creaking infrastructure, poor sanitation Voter Demographics: Total Population: 43,402 Total voters: 35,165 Male voters:18,060 Female voters: 17,105 Voter turnout at last poll (2017):76.62 % ----------------------------------------------------------- PAMELA D'MELLO https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/politics/assembly-elections-2022-ten-fights-to-follow-in-goa-8071281.html *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- Join a discussion on Goa-related issues by posting your comments on this or other issues via email to goa...@goanet.org See archives at http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/ *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-