Benefit to BJP as a victorious Independent, Pledge of support to the party, BJP winning for the third time in a row in 2022 with more than 20 seats in the 40-member house.
Goa Assembly Election Result 2022 Live Updates: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday won the election from his traditional Sanquelim assembly constituency, and expressed confidence that the BJP will form the government in the coastal state.
With exit polls predicting a hung assembly, the Congress said it is ready to forge an alliance with the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) and even Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the ministry. promised to give. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, however, expressed confidence of the BJP winning a third consecutive term with 22 plus seats in the 40-member house in the 2022 assembly election results.
The state had 302 candidates in the fray with polling in a single phase on February 14. Over 11 lakh voters cast their votes to elect the next government in the popular coastal state. While BJP entered the elections in 2022 with the slogan of 22+, CM Sawant said that if the party remains stuck on even 17-18 seats, it will seek help from independent MLAs to form the government.
Meanwhile, the Congress, fearing a repeat of the 2017 mess, shifted all the contesting candidates to a luxury resort in Bambolim village near Panaji a day before the counting of votes. The BJP also held a meeting with senior leaders to discuss the possible outcome.
Goa Congress is in touch with AAP candidates and they have promised ministry in case of victory. Sources said the oldest party is also in touch with the Trinamool Congress.
In the 2017 Goa election, internal tensions and slow decision-making under senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh led the party to lose its opportunity to form the government, while emerging as the single largest party, winning 17 seats. The BJP had secured 13 seats and was quick to form an alliance with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), Goa Forward Party (GFP) and independent legislators to form the government under four-time chief minister and former defense minister Manohar Parrikar.
Since 2017, Goa’s political space has grown with the entry of players like TMC and AAP. This time, the Congress entered the polls after forging a pre-poll alliance with the GFP, while the TMC joined hands with the MGP. Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) also joined hands in Goa, while AAP and BJP are fighting alone.
The counting of votes for all the constituencies will be done in one go, starting with the ballot papers at 8 am. North District Returning Officer Ajit Roy said the strong rooms, where EVMs are kept, would be opened at 6.30 am, but the actual counting would begin at 8 am.
Counting of votes will take place at two places, Damodar College in Margao and Government College of Polytechnic in Panaji’s Altinho, which cover assembly constituencies falling in North Goa district and South Goa district respectively, poll officials said.