LAGATAR24 NETWORK
Panaji, March 7: Soon after voting ended on Monday, exit polls predicted a neck-to-neck contest in Goa between the ruling BJP and the Congress-led alliance. Both the key players are expected to get between 13 to 17 seats while the exit polls also predicted around 2 to 6 seats for the fledgling AAP and another 2-4 for the Trinamool and MGP alliance.
The Times Now Veto 2022 exit polls predicted 16 seats for the BJP, 17 for the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party just 2 seats and Others coming in with 5 in the coastal state.
The India Today-Axis My India Exit Poll gave the BJP between 14-18, the Congress and its allies 15 to 20 seats, MGP nearly 2 to 5 seats and Others 0 to 4.
The ABP C-Voter, another leading exit poll forecast that the ruling dispensation BJP would retain power in the state with 13 to 17 seats, the Congress coming in second with 12 to 16 seats, the Trinamool Congress which is contesting for the second time in Goa likely to get between 5 to 9 seats and Others 2.
A total of 301 candidates representing 12 political parties and independents are in the fray for the polls in Goa — nearly 21% higher than in 2014 and nearly 50% higher than the 213 candidates who were contesting back in 2012.
Besides traditional contestants like the Congress, BJP and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, the coastal state of Goa has also seen new entrants like the Trinamool Congress which is making its second attempt at contesting the Goa assembly elections. It had earlier contested the 2012 elections without any success.
The Aam Aadmi Party and the Goa Forward Party too are contesting having also fought the 2017 elections. Goa has also seen the rise of another political party the Revolutionary Goans Party that has promised to keep Goa for Goans and pass new laws to that effect.
The high-pitched poll campaign has been dominated by demands to restart Goa’s stalled mining industry, the high rate of unemployment only aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown grounding the state’s tourism industry.
