Goa Election Dates, Full Schedule: Assembly election in Goa will be held in one single phase on February 14 while counting of votes will take place on March 10, the Election Commission announced on Saturday. The state has a total of 40 assembly seats. In the previous Assembly election, the BJP’s vote share (32%) was more than that of Congress (28%). But when it came to seats, Congress won in 17 while BJP could bag only 13. COMPLETE ELECTION COVERAGE
In Goa, where the BJP is in power for 10 years and will be contesting assembly polls for the first time after death of its biggest leader Manohar Parrikar, is facing challenge from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Congress and debutant Trinamool Congress (TMC).
After announcement of polls in five states, the Congress on Saturday said it is prepared for the battle ahead and said the party is fully prepared to fight for farmers, youth, women and other sections of society.
Congress General Secretary Organization KC Venugopal said, "From constant attacks on the basic rights & lives of our farmers to the unending price rise that have emptied our common citizens, from failing to stop Chinese aggression at the borders to mishandling internal peace, Congress will unitedly fight each and every failure of the BJP."
More than 18.34 crore voters will exercise their right to vote in the forthcoming assembly electins in the 5 states including Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur. Over 24 lakh people will be first time voters in the upcoming elections.
With the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic unfolding, the commission has set new protocols to ensure "Covid safe" elections to 690 assembly seats across the five states, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra told reporters.
All polling stations shall be located on ground floors across states and must be equipped with Covid mitigating facilities.
More than 2.30 lakh polling stations will be establised to conduct free, fair, safe polls across 5 states.
The results of the upcoming Goa Assembly election are going to be unpredictable thanks to multiple parties — small and big — fighting for the pie. Besides, the victory margin of candidates is usually very narrow in this small coastal state, making the final results highly susceptible to last-minute changes. No one can predict in which way the wind is blowing in Goa.
The state’s natural and political weathers are unpredictable. In the 2017 Assembly polls, the victory margin in 21 out of the total 40 seats was less than 5,000 votes and in seven of them, it was a close shave for the winner as the margin was less than 1,000 votes.
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