BJP sweeps Goa, Congress concedes defeat

Panaji: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will stake claim to form the next government in Goa. It has won 22 seats and is ahead in three adding up to a possible 25 of the 40 Assembly seats.

Former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has declared, "I am the natural choice for becoming Chief Minister. This is a vote against corruption and family raj."

When 82.8 per cent voters turned out to vote this weekend, different parties interpreted the record turnout differently.

The ruling Congress-NCP combine was convinced this was Goa's way of saying thank you. "There is no doubt in my mind that this is our mandate. The Congress-NCP's good governance and positive campaign has worked in our favour. The people have come out in a huge number against the BJP's negative campaign," Congress working president Francisco Sardinha had said yesterday.

Today, with the ruling combine winning an embarrassing eight seats, it is the BJP's application of conventional wisdom that seems to have been more realistic -  that a big voter turnout usually means a vote for change. "You just wait and watch on Tuesday. Do you need a bigger indictment of a government than a total rejection by more than 80 per cent of the population?" BJP general secretary Govind Parvatkar had asked yesterday. The BJP contested these elections with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) as an alliance partner.

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Independents and smaller players had hoped that they would play kingmaker. That would be unnecessary now.