With 215 candidates vying for 40 seats in the Goa legislative assembly, there were bound to be 175 losing candidates. However, among these 175, there exists another sub-group of 127 candidates who together contributed a tidy sum of over 6 lakh to the exchequer. These candidates polled a meagre number of votes, and had to forfeit their individual election deposits of 5,000.
Prominent among these are former Goa chief minister Wilfred de Souza who contested from Aldona constituency. The 84-year-old, who is the Trinamool Congress (TC) president in the state, secured just 643 votes in a constituency where 20,289 voters voted. In Bicholim, former transport minister who was also a former MGP president Pandurang Raut could muster only 720 votes. Raut was in the NCP before hopping to the Trinamool Congress before the election. Interestingly, 19 of the 20 Trinamool Congress party candidates lost their deposits. The party was viewed by political analysts as being part of a strategy to leech votes of Congress party candidates. For full read:- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/127-candidates-forfeit-5000-election-deposits/articleshow/12181401.cms -- DEV BOREM KORUM Gabe Menezes. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
