Goa result highlights: Pratapsingh Raoji Rane wins 11th straight election

NEW DELHI: Pratapsingh Raoji Rane, Goa’s outgoing opposition leader who was also its first Congress chief minister, won the state election for an unprecedented 11th consecutive time.

The Congress veteran beat BJP’s Vishwajit Krishnarao Rane in Poriem by a margin of 4,066 votes. Rane won his first election in 1972. One more full term will extend his record as an elected representative to half a century.

He was Goa’s CM in 1980 and five more times since. These included brief terms - one just for a month long in the state’s notoriously unstable politics. After he made way for Digambar Kamat in 2007, Rane was the speaker of the assembly.

If the Congress can outmaneuver the BJP in what looks like a hung assembly verdict for Goa, he stands the chance to land the CM job again.

The 78-year-old hails from a family of landlords in the North Goa town of Sanquelim that traces its roots to the Maratha Ranes.

Also read: All the updates from the Assembly poll results