The first and only phase of polling in Goa took place on February 14, which started at 7 am and concluded at 6 pm. It took place for all 40 seats, with 301 hopeful candidates in the race for a successful campaign. The battle this time around is between the Congress and the BJP, which hold 17 and 13 seats, respectively. Despite Congress having more seats, the BJP is in power because it has the larger vote share overall and key alliances with other major regional parties.
Events that took place
The final voter turnout stood at 78.94%, with the Sanquelim and Benaulim constituencies accounting for the highest and lowest turnouts at 89.61 and 70.2, respectively. Although the polling went peacefully, for the most part, there were a few incidents, such as that where some supporters of sitting MLA Churchill Alemao tried to corner AAP candidate Venzy Viegas in Benaulim. In addition to this, Congress and BJP workers were reported to get into a verbal duel at Vasco’s polling station 30, prompting a response from the GOA police and flying squad.
“People are voting enthusiastically to defeat corruption, and we will witness sea-change; let’s wait for March 10 results,” Times Of India quoted Amit Palekar, the chief ministerial candidate for the Aam Aadmi Party in Goa, as saying.
Political Parties and their aspirations
The Aam Aadmi Party is an exciting addition to the mix this year. The party failed to win seats in the last assembly elections, but most projections have them winning at least a few this time. Led by Arvind Kejriwal, the party contested 39 seats last time and accumulated around 6.29% of the vote share. Also, the Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee is proving to be a contender in the electoral race.
Several other parties in the mix, such as the Nationalist Congress Party led by Sharad Pawar and the Shiv Sena, hold significant aspirations in the state. These parties have expressed their willingness to join the Congress in an alliance like in Maharashtra, but the latter refused the proposal.
Family Raj (Rule)
A significant issue that has been the cause of contention in Goan politics is that family members are being chosen to run for polling. Back in 2012, Manohar Parrikar came up with the acronym MMAARR to bring to light the supposed “family-raj” of Congress, Monserrate-Madkaikar-Alemao (Churchill)-Alemao (Joaquim)-Rane-Ravi. However, the BJP itself has fielded two couples as it confirmed tickets for the Monserrate and Rane couples. Thus, the BJP has been accused of breaking its promise of not giving tickets to more than one person from a family.
“I don’t know why everyone questions politicians, while it’s acceptable for a doctor to encourage his students to follow in his footsteps,” said Alemao, former chief minister, a five-time MLA from Benaulim, when asked about the issue of dynasty politics and family raj in an interview to the Times of India. He also pointed out how Rahul and Sonia Gandhi also belong to the same family and Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aditya.
