Nearly 11.35 lakh voters will on Tuesday decide the fate of candidates in Goa's two Lok Sabha and three Assembly seats, after a gruelling election campaign that saw the ruling BJP and the Congress predictably emerge as top contestants for the April 23 polls, in which regional party MGP will also a key role.
Simultaneous polling will take place in Shiroda, Mandrem and Mapusa Assembly constituencies of the state.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are contesting all the five seats, while the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), which broke away from the BJP-led ruling coalition, is contesting in the two bypoll seats and has put its weight behind the Congress in the two Lok Sabha and Mapusa Assembly seat.
In the Lok Sabha contest, BJP's four-term MP and Union Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Naik takes on state Congress president Girish Chodankar in the North Goa seat, while outgoing MP Narendra Sawaikar is keen to retain his South Goa seat and fend off the challenge of Congress' Francisco Sardinha, a former Chief Minister.
The inability of the BJP-led coalition governments in Goa as well as at the Centre to restart state's mining industry, which has been banned for more than a year by the Supreme Court, is one of the key factors that could hurt the BJP prospects, along with the absence of the charismatic Manohar Parrikar, who died in office on March 17.
"He (Parrikar) will be missed. This is probably the first time that he is not among us to participate in the campaign. But BJP leaders and workers have worked doubly hard to ensure that the party wins all seats," Naik told IANS.
As if the party's anxiety about losing vote share in the Hindu-dominated mining belt and Parrikar's absence was not enough, the string of anti-minority comments, lynchings over beef consumption, as well as the Goa Archbishop's public message urging voters to shun communal parties, cold also adversely affect BJP.
On the other hand, the Congress in North Goa faces the handicap of fielding an "imported" candidate -- Girish Chodankar -- from the South Goa constituency, as Chief Minister Pramod Sawant puts it.
The other slur on the party's track record is its lack of delivery, corruption and nepotism during its stint in power during 2005-2012 and failure to effectively play the role of opposition when the BJP held power since 2012.
Its success is also dependent on the performance of the AAP, which has campaigned hard to attract minority voters -- a key vote bank of the Congress.
But Chodankar claims the party will perform "very well", adding that the support of the MGP in the midst of the campaign will really bolster its chances.
"The BJP is looking at a 5-0 loss. The party's effectiveness has been exposed both in Goa as well as the Centre because they could not solve an issue as basic as the mining ban," Chodankar said.
The party, which has the potential to play kingmaker from the background, is the MGP that broke away from the BJP-led coalition after two of its MLAs joined the BJP, causing much embarrassment to the regional party's leadership.
"BJP will cease to exist in Goa after five years. This election is the beginning of their end. They have been proved as habitual betrayers and a party which destroys regional outfits," MGP state chief Deepak Dhavalikar said.
Elections to the three bypolls are also expected to be a close affair.
The bypolls in Shiroda and Mandrem were necessitated after two Congress MLAs representing the constituencies quit the party and legislatorship and joined the BJP last year. The bypolls in Mapusa were announced after sitting BJP MLA former Deputy Chief Minister Francis D'Souza died after a long battle with cancer.
D'Souza's son and BJP candidate from Mapusa, Joshua, faces his father's Man-Friday Sudhir Kandolkar, who joined the Congress a month back. BJP's Subhash Shirodkar takes on MGP's Deepak Dhavalikar in Shiroda constituency, where the Congress leaders have subtly hinted at supporting the latter's candidature.
In Mandrem Assembly constituency, the role played by former BJP Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, who has refused to campaign for his party's candidate, is expected to be key in determining the winner among BJP's Dayanand Sopte, Congress' Babi Bagkar and Independent candidate Jeet Arolkar.
--IANS
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