Goa polls — BJP cries foul as Cong man elected unopposed

PANAJI, MAY 20: The Congress party in Goa scored its first victory in the Assembly polls on Thursday when its candidate for the Loutolim ...

PANAJI, MAY 20: The Congress party in Goa scored its first victory in the Assembly polls on Thursday when its candidate for the Loutolim seat, Alexio Sequeira was elected unopposed. While Caetano Colaco of the United Goans Democratic Party was disqualified from contesting for the same seat, Seby Fernandes of the Bharatiya Janata Party chose to withdraw from the fray.

The Loutolim seat in the Catholic-dominated Salcette area had seven contenders till Wednesday evening. All the candidates apart from Collaco withdrew from the race on the penultimate day for withdrawals. Collaco was disqualified as he was a government contractor.

The withdrawal of the BJP candidate, Seby Fernandes has resulted in howls of protest from the Saffron party. BJP leader Manohar Parrikar alleged that his party’s candidate was intimidated by Congressmen. “We don’t have a party network in Loutolim, so there was no one to give support for Fernandes who was under extreme pressure,” Parrikar told The Indian Express. The BJP leader also admitted that Fernandes, a party sympathiser was given the ticket so that the Loutolim seat did not go uncontested by the party.

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Fernandes himself told the press that he did not consult his supporters and family before seeking a ticket from the BJP. He also scoffed at rumours that he had taken money from the Congress candidate to withdraw from the fray.

Sequeira is only the second MLA to be elected unopposed to the Goa assembly. In 1989 Luizinho Faleiro, the present Congress president was elected unopposed from the Manga Assembly segment.