Shripad Naik holds edge, but Girish Chodankar not far behind

Friends Bhiva Gawas from Morlem and Pravin Gaude from Keri rounded up their friends on Tuesday by 11am and set out to picnic at a waterbody in Krishnapur, a village in Karnataka. Without casting their vote, they could not even think of leaving.


Health minister Vishwajit Rane had made sure he pushed the envelope in both, his assembly constituency and that of his Congressman father Pratapsingh Rane.


“Vishwajit is much more active in campaigning, while his father Pratapsingh’s efforts were more subdued. So, BJP will poll considerable votes in both Poriem and Valpoi,” said Gawas.

Rane was not the only one.

Though polling day appeared an enthusiastic one on the face of it, behind the scenes, MLAs, party office bearers and workers pulled all stops to keep their candidate afloat.

BJP is expected to get a good lead in Pernem because of the strength of the party’s booth workers, a party official said. Pednekars are very upset with Shripad Naik for not visiting Pernem taluka enough. One voter from Mandrem said Naik had gone to Bicholim, Mayem and Valpoi to seek votes, but skipped Pernem. But deputy chief minister Manohar Ajgaonkar joining BJP and Dayanand Sopte recently quitting Congress to join BJP has given BJP an edge.

Like in Pernem taluka, BJP is likely to find favour in many other constituencies as the Prime Minister Narendra Modi factor plays on everyone’s mind.

“Actually, we don’t want to vote for Naik and elect him again, but the Congress candidate is from outside the constituency and looking at the work done by Modi, we have voted for the PM,” said a youth.

In

Bicholim taluka

, three constituencies - Bicholim, Mayem and Sakhali - are represented by BJP MLAs, including chief minister Pramod Sawant. BJP was able to put its house in order in Mayem as well as the party convinced former MLA Anant Shet to work for the party with the promise to give him a BJP ticket at the next assembly elections.

Congress made its presence felt in Tiswadi taluka with party MLAs doing their best to ensure the party takes a healthy lead over BJP. The entry of former St Cruz MLA Atanasio Monserrate has had a positive effect with the Taleigao strongman ensuring that the party made an impact.

In the traditional strongholds of Agasaim and Goa Velha, it helped that the Church spoke favourably at mass on Tuesday morning. “We were told to make the right choice. The priest did not have to say anything else,” said a Congress sympathiser.

BJP supporters came out in numbers to back the party in places like Cumbharjua, Curca and Neura.

Where mining dependants are concerned, there is resentment among them, but with the hope that BJP will form the government again and the state government will enjoy stability, many mining dependents have decided to stick with BJP.

In Calangute, the grouse of some voters was clear that candidates had not bothered to visit them in person. “Neither Girish (Chodankar) nor Shripad (Naik) came this side,” said a Calangute taxi operator.

But some of the taxi operators said that Congress candidate Chodankar had little time to canvass due to delay on the part of his party to announce candidates and this gave Naik an edge.

The awareness created by election officials like AERO Pravinvijay Pandit in Bicholim was effective to pull even aged and disabled voters for polling with the help of wheelchairs or walking sticks.

For the first time, election commission posted anganwadi workers at booths as also health workers. Anganwadi workers looked after toddlers or infants of voters. A few voters had come in with their children. The anganwadi workers were happy to serve them.