The BJP is leading in 19 out of the 40 seats in Goa, and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has pushed into the lead in Sanquelim after trailing the Congress’s Dharmesh Saglani for some time.
In the Poriem seat, which has been a Congress bastion for 45 years, the BJP’s debutant Deviya Rane was leading with the highest margin of over 10,047 votes after five rounds of counting.
Former CM Pratap Singh Rane’s exit from these elections is likely to cost Congress. The BJP also brought on board winnable independent candidates who were leading in two constituencies. Independents leading in at least two constituencies may lean towards the BJP.
The BJP’s two deputy CM’s trailed in their constituencies of Quepem and Margao. Deputy CM Manohar Ajgaonkar, a defector who joined BJP after leaving MGP in 2019, was given a ticket from Margao instead of his constituency of Pernem. In Margao, Congress’s Digambar Kamat led by 5,849 votes.
The Congress was leading in 10 seats while its ally Goa Forward Party was leading in 1. It was trailing in 11 constituencies and in one constituency leading with wafer thin margins of 4 votes and another by 93. And trailed in others by small margins of 167.
While the TMC trailed in three seats at 11 am, its seasoned players including Churchill Alemao were not in the top two in Benaulim. It’s alliance partner MGO, however, seemed in good stead, leading in five seats and trailing in one. Should the MGP decide to back the Congress, not all may be lost for the national party.
The AAP led first in just one constituency of Navelim by four votes, however, its candidate Venzy Viegas picked up a lead of 431 votes in Benaulim, a stronghold of veteran and former CM Churchill Alemao, contesting this time from the TMC. In the erstwhile constituency of TMC Rajya Sabha MP Luizinho Faleiro, with Valankar Alemao, daughter of TMC leader Churchill Alemao contesting the seat, the contest was narrowed between the AAP and the Congress.
