Panaji:
Alina Saldanha, wife of the former Goa tourism minister Matanhy Saldanha, has filed her nomination papers as a Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate for the Cortalim assembly by-poll to be held on June 2.
Mrs Saldanha, accompanied by the BJP workers and her supporters, filed the nomination papers before the returning officer after her name was cleared by the BJP's central election committee headed by the party President Nitin Gadkari on Saturday.
The contest for the constituency which has 26, 652 registered voters, including 13, 039 females, is likely to be a triangular one with the Congress and NCP fielding separate candidates.
The by-election was necessitated following the death of her husband who had defeated his nearest rival of the Goa Vikas Party (GVP) in the March 3 assembly elections.
Mr Saldhana, who was sworn in as a tourism minister in the Manohar Parrikar cabinet, had died of a heart attack.