Campaigning ends for Panaji byelection

PANAJI: Electioneering for the Panaji bypoll came to an end on Friday. The nearly month-long campaign was witness to high pitch battles between BJP and Congress as the former fought to retain its seat and the latter strove to make a comeback in the capital city after a long hiatus.


The final day saw candidates holding last minute interactions with individual voters, with each expressing confidence of winning.

While the main contest is expected to be between BJP’s Sidharth Kuncalienker and Congress’ Atanasio Monserrate, former RSS chief and GSM candidate Subhash Velingkar said the fight is between him and Congress.

The defeat of BJP candidate Kuncalienker is “certain”, Velingkar said.

AAP candidate Valmiki Naik said that the fight for Panaji is a four-cornered one and that the people of Panaji will vote for AAP as a viable alternative. “Anybody polling 6,000 votes will win the seat, and as per my calculation I am expecting around 8,000 votes,” Naik said.

Kuncalienker said BJP has received a positive response from the people during their campaigning with regards to Parrikar’s vision of making Panaji a world-class city while retaining its character.

“I would like to apologise to those people of Panaji whom I could not meet during campaigning. I think I have been unable to meet around 10% of the voters, and I apologise to them,” Monserrate said, adding that he had got a good response from the people of the capital city. People will vote for a change, the Congress candidate said.

The bypoll was necessitated following the demise of former chief minister Manohar Parrikar on March 17. The capital city had been Parrikar’s bastion since 1994. Even when he became defence minister, Parrikar ensured that BJP retained the seat on two occasions — in 2015 and 2017.

In Parrikar’s absence, his successor chief minister Pramod Sawant was seen campaigning in the capital city every day, holding meetings with various organisation and groups, even individuals, in a bid to retain the seat. For Sawant, winning the election has become a matter of prestige, as it is a deciding factor in how the central leadership will view him, a political analyst said.

Political observers expect the election to be closely fought. With every vote in the 22,482-voter strong constituency being considered important, campaign managers of all political parties worked hard, not leaving anything to chance.

Given the crucial nature of battle for the seat, the campaign saw much mudslinging between the main contesting parties. Even as BJP came under attack from Congress, GSM and AAP, it went all out in its retaliation. There were personal attacks made by BJP against the Congress candidate.

From 5pm on May 17 the liquor restriction came into force in Tiswadi taluka, which will be lifted at midnight of May 19.