Goa Results 2022: Why Congress Missed It Again

Congress leaders P Chidambaram, Rahul Gandhi and Digambar Kamat in Goa | Photo: Twitter/@digambarkamat

The Congress in Goa was so confident of its victory that it sought appointment of the Governor for Thursday, 3 pm to stake claim for the government formation. The party secured its MLAs in a resort to prevent horse trading after the counting of votes. Senior leaders camped in Goa for negotiations with other parties.

But all in vain. The Vidhan Sabha results disappointed the party.

Now it is clear that the Congress has to sit in the opposition in Goa for next five years. Once again the grand old party has missed an opportunity to seize power in the beach state. However, the reason this time for slipping the power is not the lax decision making but the division of its votes.

Goa Legislative Assembly election results have mandated that the BJP is going to retain power in the state. The party has progressed since the last election. In 2017, the BJP was second largest party. This time it has won the highest number of seats in the assembly strength of 40. The results show that the BJP will able to form the government on its own without taking much external support. Its closest challenger was the Congress that has slipped to number two.

The Congress was much hopeful to win this time. It relied on the anti-incumbency factor and minority votes from South Goa. However, the AAP and the TMC played spoiler for it. They targeted the traditional vote bank of the Congress and presented themselves as the party's option. A heavily divided opposition proved advantageous for the BJP.

"Congress needs to do introspection. Also, TMC and AAP dented us," Congress leader Michael Lobo told ABP News, conceding party's defeat.

The Congress in Goa lacked charismatic faces. It's stalwart  Luzinho Falerio was poached by the TMC several months ago. A few other influential names also joined rival parties. The Congress was primarily relying on names like Digambar Kamat and Michael Lobo, both of whom were eyeing the CM's post hoping the party will win.

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