PANAJI: Rural Goa’s verdict will be unraveled on Monday, when the ballot papers of the nearly 4.5 lakh people who voted on Saturday for the state’s two zilla panchayat bodies are taken up for counting.
Starting 8am, six centres in North Goa and nine in South Goa will see counting commence.
Although the results of the zilla panchayat polls will in no way alter the political contours of the state, they will reveal the pulse of rural Goa and help assess the popularity or otherwise of political parties ahead of the assembly elections just 13 months away.
The ZP polls are also being seen as a major test for chief minister Pramod Sawant to prove his mettle in leading the state to elections, as this is the first local body elections BJP is contesting under his watch.
Both BJP and Congress have exuded confidence of winning both bodies. While Congress hopes the anti-government sentiments over the three contentious Centre-funded projects would translate into votes in its favour, BJP said that the protests will have no impact on its electoral fortunes. The opposition parties had tried to make political capital of the protests with a view to keep the issues burning till the 2022 assembly elections.
“The results of the ZP elections are important for both the ruling party as well as opposition as, it will set the ball rolling for the assembly election,” a political observer said. Goa goes to polls in the first quarter of 2022.
Going by the turnout and the efforts put in by ruling MLAs, including ministers, political observers say indications are that BJP has an edge over its rivals.
What lends an advantage to BJP is its robust strength of 27 MLAs in the 40-member legislative assembly. Congress has just five MLAs and MGP one. AAP has no representation in the House.
BJP is likely to post a better performance in North Goa than in South Goa, where Catholic-dominated Salcete constituencies continue to pose a challenge for the saffron party to make inroads. However, voter turnout was low in Salcete, where BJP fielded candidates in only two constituencies — Davorlim and Guirdolim, while backing independents in the rest, as a strategic move. Political observers have their eyes riveted on voter behavior in Salcete — will BJP’s strategy to back independents succeed? Or will Congress be able to retain its traditional bastion? The relatively low turnout in Salcete has kept poll pundits guessing.
The election had recorded a 56.8% turnout, a nearly 10% decline from polling figures of the 2015 ZP polls. 200 candidates — 104 in North Goa and 96 in South Goa — had contested the 48 ZP constituencies. North Goa and South Goa ZP bodies have 25 members each. In South Goa, elections were held only for 23 seats, as BJP won Sancoale unopposed and the election in Navelim was countermanded on account of the death of a candidate.
For the first time, all major political parties in the state (except Goa Forward Party) contested the ZP polls. In 2015, when the ZP election was held for the first time on party lines, only BJP contested officially.
This time, BJP is contesting in 41 constituencies and Congress in 37, followed by AAP in 20, NCP and MGP in five each, and Rashtriya Samaj Paksha in one.