"Pale reposes trust in Congress" NT NETWORK Posted on 2008-11-30 PANJIM - The Congress party retained the Pale assembly seat when its nominee, Mr Pratap Gawas, was declared elected by the returning officer by a margin of 1,534 votes. Mr Gawas polled 7,867 votes from among 18,391 votes polled on Wednesday. He defeated his nearest rival, Dr Pramod Sawant of the Bharatiya Janata Party who polled 6,333 votes. Dr Suresh Amonkar who had quit the BJP on being denied ticket took away as many as 3,682 votes. Of the other two contestants; Mr Rajendra Rane got 351 votes while Mr Jose Lobo of Save Goa Front managed to get just 158 votes. The November 26 by-election was held to fill the vacancy created by the death of Gurudas Gawas, who was elected during the last general elections to the state assembly in June 2007. The Congress was quick to claim that the victory of its candidate indicated people�s approval of the government�s policies and developmental works done by it in Pale and elsewhere since it came to power in June 2007. It also said that the party leadership was confident of winning the seat right from day one, when the polls were announced. Addressing a press conference soon after the results were declared Mr Subhash Shirodkar, the president of Goa Pradesh Congress Committee, said that people of Pale stood by the Congress and voted for its candidate in appreciation of the good work done by it in the constituency. The GPCC chief attributed the success of the Congress nominee to the hard work put in by the Chief Minister, Mr Digambar Kamat and other Congress leaders who worked in the constituency, adding that the people also voted for Congress candidate, who happened to be the brother of Gurudas Gawas, in acknowledgement of the hard work put in by the former MLA in the constituency for its development. He also said that the victory of Mr Gawas was possible due to wholehearted support of the independent MLA and the Health Minister, Mr Vishwajit Rane, and the Speaker, Mr Pratapsing Rane. He went on to add that he succeeded in his endeavour of getting the Congress candidate elected after taking over the reigns of the party some months ago. The Chief Minister said that the results of the Pale by-election proved that people have trust in Congress and the coalition government led by it. The result is a certificate of the performance of the government, he said adding that the Congress has won both the by-elections since his government came to power. He told reporters that his party had approached the people with positive campaign about development of the constituency and the state and that the votes for Mr Gawas were an indication that people accepted its policies. He further said that even rural voters rejected the negative campaign launched by the opponents of the Congress and voted for Mr Gawas as they wanted further development of the constituency. He also said that the victory of the Congress nominee was possible due to hard work put in by the Health Minister and the co-operation extended by the Speaker, and other Congress ministers in his cabinet including the Home Minister, Mr Ravi Naik, Panchayat Minister, Mr Manohar Azgaonkar, Cumbharjua MLA, Mr Pandurang Madkaikar, etc. The victorious Congress nominee, Mr Gawas attributed his win to the Congress workers and the full support extended by Mr Vishwajit Rane and Mr Pratapsing Rane. He said that he would work to fulfill the dreams his late brother had for the development of the constituency. The Congress leaders were unanimous in highlighting the role of the Rane family in the victory of party candidate Mr Pratap Gawas in the Pale by-poll. They said that the support of the Health Minister and the Speaker was very crucial for the Congress candidate. Earlier, the BJP nominee attributed his loss in the election to the deletion of some names from the electoral rolls and the support extended by the Health Minister to the Congress candidate. Dr Amonkar on the other hand said that he succeeded in making a point and achieved his goal, though he was defeated in the elections. He said that the results were a fitting reply to his opponents in the party he just quit. He said that he had to leave BJP for certain reasons that he would explain to the people soon.
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