Both Goa Deputy Chief Ministers lose polls

Both Deputy Chief Ministers of Goa lost Assembly elections to their nearest Congress rivals on Thursday though their party BJP is on course to emerge as the single largest political formation in the state. Deputy Chief Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar was defeated by Leader of Opposition and Congress candidate Digambar Kamat by a huge margin of almost 6,000 votes in the Margao Assembly constituency. Ajgaonkar, who had been traditionally contesting from Pernem in North Goa, was this time fielded by the BJP from Margao in South Goa. Margao has been represented in the Assembly by Kamat, a former chief minister, since 1994. The second Deputy Chief Minister in the Pramod Sawant-led cabinet, Chandrakant Kavlekar, lost to Congress candidate Altone D'Costa in Quepem. Kavlekar had won from Quepem in 2017 on a Congress ticket. He shifted to the BJP in 2019 along with nine other Congress MLAs and was rewarded with the Deputy CM's post. D'Costa, a first time contestant from the constituency, defeated Kavlekar by a margin of more than 3,000 votes. Voting for the 40-member Goa Assembly took place on February 14 and counting was taken up on Thursday.