Goa Assembly polls: Vote count on Thursday; Cong moves candidates to resort

As Goa prepares for counting of votes polled in the February 14 Assembly elections on Thursday, a jittery Congress shifted all its candidates to a luxury resort near Panaji and engaged in talks with political rival AAP for support in government formation if there was a fractured mandate. More than 300 candidates contested for the 40 assembly seats which saw multi-cornered fights due to presence of several smaller and regional outfits besides the BJP and the Congress, the two major political forces in Goa. The votes will be counted at two places Damodar College in Margao and Government College of Polytechnic at Altinho in Panaji covering Assembly constituencies falling in North Goa district and South Goa district, respectively, from 8 am, officials said on Wednesday. A senior official said all the results are expected by around noon. Most exit polls have predicted a hung House in the tiny coastal state, leading the political parties to formulate their strategies keeping in mind different post-result scenarios. Desperate to avoid a repeat of the 2017 fiasco when it had failed to form a government in Goa despite bagging the maximum number of seats, the Congress shifted all the candidates who had contested the Assembly polls to a luxury resort in Bambolim village near Panaji on Tuesday evening with their luggage, indicating the government formation may be a long haul. However, Congress leaders refused to admit that the party was corralling its candidates as it is not willing to take any chances given the delicate number game. We are here (in the resort) to celebrate the birthday of Opposition leader Digambar Kamat. It's a celebration time, Congress candidate Michael Lobo, who contested the election from his home turf Calangute, told reporters. Kamat, a former CM, celebrated his birthday on March 8. Lobo said the Congress had nothing to fear as all the candidates are united. "There is no worry about poaching," said Lobo, who quit the BJP ahead of the polls and joined the Congress. However, a senior Congress leader spoke about the anxiety in the party over retaining the flock against the backdrop of the 2017 experience wherein intense infighting and delay in staking claim to form a government cost the party dear.

There are worries. That is why the candidates are kept under one roof. Some of the candidates will not be allowed even to visit the counting centres tomorrow. Their counting agents will represent them, he said. With its strength reduced to just two MLAs in the outgoing House from 17 five years ago, the Congress seems determined to protect its flock. Before the polls, the Congress made all its 37 candidates sign affidavits to ensure they will not defect to other parties after getting elected. In 2017, despite winning 17 seats, the Congress could not come to power as the BJP, which had bagged 13 seats, allied with some independents and regional parties to form the government under the leadership of its stalwart Manohar Parrikar. The main oppositon party has reached out to like-minded outfits for support in case it falls short of the simple majority mark of 21. The Congress claimed on Wednesday talks were already underway with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for obtaining support for government formation in Goa if there was a hung Assembly. State Congress president Girish Chodankar told reporters that AAP leaders were already in talks with Congress leaders."

However, AAP leaders, including the party's chief ministerial candidate Amit Palekar, were not available for comments. The AAP has said that under no circumstances it will support the BJP, Chodankar said, claiming that the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), too, will support the Congress. The MGP has been betrayed by the BJP so often. A senior MGP leader like Sudin Dhavalikar was humiliated and thrown out of the cabinet. There is no way the MGP will go with the BJP, the GPCC chief said. The BJP could form government in Goa in 2017 only with the backing of the Goa Forward Party and the MGP, but later it "tried to finish off these parties," Chodankar alleged.

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