The counting began at 8 a.m. today in Goa, following a single-phase of voting. Early indications suggested that the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) was leading by 7 seats in the 40-seat Goa assembly, outnumbering the Indian National Congress (INC) party, which had 3 seats, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and others.
In the 2022 elections for the Goa State Legislative Assembly, about 11 lakh individuals will be eligible to vote. There are 9,590 disabled people, 2,997 senior citizens, 41 sex workers, and nine transgender people among them.
Congressmen have reportedly tried to sneak in the governor’s schedule for a meeting at 3pm to which the governor Shri P.S. Sreedharan Pillai denied saying that the meetings are strictly to be kept for post-poll results.
The seemingly overconfident party workers are said to have a surety of their win even with BJP leading in 19 constituencies and Congress in 11 of them.
The cockiness has muzzled them as BJP acquire majority seats and the incumbent Chief Minister and BJP candidate Pramod Sawant has sought after claiming the government with BJP set to score a hattrick.
Sawant said that BJP is going to incorporate Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and other independent candidates as well.
Indian National Congress had released its manifesto on 4 February 2022. Some of the key promises made are
- Launching NYAY scheme which promises annual income transfer of rupees 72 thousand to each of the poorest families in the state
- Cap the Petrol and Diesel prices at rupees 80 per litre
- 30 percent reservation for women in a government job
- Resumption of mining in a sustainable way
- Congress will resist the three Linear projects and will not allow Goa to become a coal hub
- The Congress will enact a law providing protection to the land rights of locals
The Congress Party teamed up with the Goa Forward Party (GFP) before of the election, while the Trinamool Congress teamed up with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and the Shiv Sena teamed up with the National Congress Party (NCP).
According to congressional leaders, there is a massive anti-incumbency tsunami, which is why such a large number of people are voting. Goa has a voting participation of 75.29 percent, which is lower than the last poll’s 82.56 percent.
Published by – Kiruthiga K
Edited by – Khushi Thakur
