It’s a close contest between the BJP and Congress in Goa as exit polls indicate a hung assembly in the coastal state once again in a re-run of the 2017 results. The elections in Goa, which were spiced up by the entry of Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC), have turned into a direct battle between the players Congress and BJP if numbers are to be believed.
In the 40-member assembly, parties need 21 seats to win decisively. According to the Jan Ki Baat survey, the BJP is slated to win 13-19 seats, 14-19 for the Congress, AAP may get 1-2, while others may make up 4-8.
The P-MARQ Exit Poll gives 13-17 seats to the BJP, 13-17 to the Congress-GFP and 2-6 to the Aam Aadmi Party. Meanwhile, the TMC-MGP is expected to win 2-4 seats and may emerge as the kingmaker in case of a hung assembly.
The India Today – Axis My India survey gives a slight edge to the Congress in the coastal state. While it predicts 14-18 seats for the BJP, Congress is expected to gain in 15-20. According to the Zee-Designboxed survey, the Congress-led alliance is likely to win 14-19 constituencies, the BJP 13-18, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) 0 and others 4-11.
The CNX survey predicted 16-22 seats for the BJP, the Congress+ 11-17, AAP 0-2 and others 5-7. The Veto exit poll projected 16 seats for the Congress+, 14 for the BJP, 4 for the AAP and 6 for others.
The exit poll numbers have revived memories of a fractured mandate in 2017 when Congress failed to oust the BJP from power despite emerging as the single-largest party. It had won 17 of the 40 seats — four short of the halfway majority mark.
In a slick manoeuvre, the BJP, however, ensured the return of erstwhile allies of Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and Goa Forward Party into its fold. The coalition government was headed by BJP veteran Manohar Parrikar — whose return from the Centre was set as a condition by the allies for extending support.
Goa had recorded around 79% turnout in the February 14 elections. The highest voting percentage was recorded at Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s Assembly constituency in Sanquelim, where 89.64% voters cast their ballot, while the lowest turnout was reported in the Benaulim Assembly constituency at 70.20%.
A total of 11,56,464 voters were eligible to cast their votes in the state, spread over 1,722 polling stations with 301 candidates in the fray.
The election campaign was marked by bitter acrimony between the traditional rivals, the Congress and the BJP, with the relatively new entrants to Goa’s political scene, the Aam Aadmi Party, Trinamool Congress and the Revolutionary Goans nipping at the heels of the two main political outfits.
One of the sideshows of the elections was the internal rebellion within the ruling BJP, which saw the late Manohar Parrikar’s son Utpal Parrikar and former CM Laxmikant Parsekar contesting as Independent candidates after the BJP denied them tickets.
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