Amresh Parab
Panaji: In 2019, Union Minister and five-time MP Shripad Naik defeated Congress’ Girish Chodankar by an over 80,000 vote margin. But there were no major gains for Naik. Congress led by nearly 1,500 in Tiswadi taluka.
Naik secured 43,278 votes from the five constituencies in the taluka, whereas Chodankar polled 44,768.
In 2014, the scenario was different, wherein the sitting MP secured a lead of over 10,000 votes in Tiswadi. Naik secured 45,144 votes, while his competitor, Congress’ Ravi Naik, secured 35,599 votes.
Tiswadi taluka consists of Panaji, Taleigao, Santa Cruz, San Andre, and Cumbarjua.
This time, it is to be seen as to how many votes the BJP will be able to secure from this taluka, as four of the five constituencies—Tiswadi, Panaji, Taleigao, Cumbharjua, and Santa Cruz—are represented by BJP MLAs, while St. Andre is represented by RGP MLA Viresh Borkar.
In the 2022 assembly polls, Santa Cruz and Cumbarjua gave the mandate to Congress candidates Rudolfo Fernandes and Rajesh Faldessai, respectively. However, five months after the results, the two joined six others to shift to the BJP.
It is to be seen whether the voters in these two constituencies, Santa Cruz and Cumbharjua, will back their MLAs and vote for the BJP candidate, said political observers.
Fernandes and Faldessai will have to garner additional votes to keep themselves relevant in the BJP.
In 2012, the BJP had two MLAs in Tiswadi taluka, while the Congress had three.
The public opinion is that the five-time MP from North Goa is likely to get the lead in Tiswadi as the Congress presence here is poor.
However, political observers are of the opinion that the regional party RGP entering the fray might change the voting scenario to some extent. The last two parliamentary elections witnessed a fight between the two national political parties.
The reason they say this is that the RGP emerged as the third-highest party in the 2022 assembly elections, securing around 10 per cent of the total votes polled, and it is to be seen how it performs at the parliamentary election.
Political insiders say that the assembly and the parliamentary elections have different voting patterns. At times, what matters to certain voters is which national party is likely to form the government at the Centre and which party is in power at the state. Apart from that, some voters look at the overall national political scene, the political wave, and so on.
The capital city is expected to give Naik a sizable lead, as in addition to Revenue Minister Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate working for the BJP, his arch rival, Utpal Parrikar, has also extended support to the five-time MP.
In San Andre, it is a test for RG too.