New Delhi: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to contest 38 out of 40 seats in Goa as the state goes to the polls next month. Though, the final list of candidates will be announced after January 16 after the party parliamentary board will approve it.
The information was shared with news agency PTI by a senior party functionary. “A formal announcement about the candidates would be made after January 16 when the party’s parliamentary board approves the list,” he told PTI.
BJP’s Goa in-charge and former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis has been holding meetings with Sadanand Shet Tanavade, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, among others to discuss the same.
Sawant said on Thursday that the party functionaries will visit Delhi on January 15 to meet the top brass and the final list of the candidates will be announced on January 16.
The two seats the BJP is not contesting are Benaulim and Nuvem. According to PTI, these two constituencies are Christian-dominated and traditionally vote for non-BJP candidates. According to ABP News sources, this year BJP will be supporting independent candidates from these two constituencies.
Benaulim is currently represented by Churchill Alemao who contested and won from the Nationalist Congress Party’s ticket in 2017 and later shifted to Trinamool Congress.
On the other hand, Nuvem is represented by Wilfred D’Sa who contested and won as a Congress candidate but later switched to BJP.
BJP is currently ruling with 23 MLAs in the state after four of its MLAs resigned from the party. The main parties competing are BJP, Congress, TMC, NCP, and AAP. Goa goes to polling on February 14.