The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged triumphant in the zilla panchayat bye-election. Two BJP candidates from Davorlim and Reis Magos zilla panchayat constituencies won with a good margin, and the winning independent candidate from Cortalim is certain to lend her support to the BJP.
The BJP’s lotuses have bloomed this time at the zilla panchayat bye-election in Davorlim, Reis Magos and Cortalim. Davorlim BJP candidate Paresh Pandurang Naik won with 4080 votes, defeating the Aam Admi candidate Siddesh Bhagat who got 3374 votes.
Further, in Cortalim, Merciana Mendes E Vaz (Independent) candidate, wife of Cortalim MLA Antonio Vaz, won by securing 4453 votes, defeating another independent candidate Lesley Gama who got 1511 votes.
It is certain that Merciana Vaz will support the BJP considering her husband Cortalim MLA Antonio Vaz has extended his support to the BJP government.
In Reis Magos, Sandeep Kashinath Bandodkar (BJP) won with 5345 votes, defeating independent candidate Sainath Bablo Korgaonkar who obtained 1101 votes.
Meanwhile, the Congress candidates have remained in third or last positions in all three zilla panchayat constituencies despite claims of the revival of the mammoth party, which was once the strongest and most popular among voters.
In Davorlim, Congress candidate Leoncio Jervasio Fernandes Raikar was in the third position, getting 1089 votes. In Cortalim, too, Congress candidate Valent Barbosa failed to show his charm and received 1360 votes. Congress candidate Pragati Sandeep Pednekar was fourth, obtaining only 509 votes.
It may be recalled that the total voter turnout in all three ZP constituencies for the bye-election on Sunday was 46.66 per cent only. The percentage of voter turnout at the end of the polling day was 45.07 per cent in Cortalim, 50.52 per cent in Davorlim and 43.94 per cent in Reis Magos.
