Goa: 2 pc swing decides fortune in favour of Cong

Panaji, June 10: A mere 2 per cent of votes made the difference infavour of the Congress which rode back to power forming a coalitiongovernment in Goa after the June 2 elections to the 40-memberLegislative Assembly.

The Congress with 32 per cent of votes (22,9,253) secured 16seats. On the otherh and, the rival BJP which got 30 per cent votes(21,5,605) with 14 seats was forced to sit in the Opposition again.

About 69 per cent of the 1.01 million electorate exercised theirfranchise despite heavy downpour on the day of election, giving afractured mandate.

The BJP contested for the highest 33 seats followed by its rivalCongress 32, the oldest Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP)- 26, SaveGoa Front (SGF)- 17, JD(S) and UGDP- 11 each, Shiv Sena- 7, NationalistCongress Party (NCP)- 6, Communist Party of India (CPI)- 3, CPI(Marxist)- 1, RPI(A)- 4, GSP- 1, and Independents- 50.

The Janata Dal(S) headed by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda,which fielded 11 candidates including a woman, secured the lowest of 1per cent votes.

The NCP, which forged pre-poll alliance and contested from sixconstituencies, secured 5 per cent votes but bagged 3 seats as against2 in the last house.

The United Goans Democratic Party (UGDP), which also secured 5 percent votes, however won in only the Taliegao constituency electingformer minister Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate.

The nascent regional outfit ''Save Goa Front'', headed by Congressrebel and former Chief Minister Churchill Alemao, secured 8 per centvotes and won 2 seats.

The MGP, which fielded 26 candidates, got 9 per cent of the votesand bagged 2 seats electing former PWD minister Ramakrishna (Sudin)Dhavlikar and his brother Deepak Dhavlikar.

Others including independents, communists, Shiv Sena, RepublicanParty of India and Goa Su-Raj Party got 10 per cent of votes.

UNI

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