( By Rakesh Agarwal)

Valentine’s Day is the day of love and affection celebrated all over the world. Polling in Goa is today on this day of love. It will be interesting to see that to which political party, the voters of the state have showered their love and affection. Goa is a unicameral legislature consisting of 40 seats and there is no Upper House. Bharatiya Janata Party with 19 seats is currently in power in the state and Pramod Sawant is the Chief Minister. 12 political parties are contesting election this time in the state and have fielded total 301 candidates. After fierce and murky campaign, 11.6 lakh Goans, out of which 5.9 lakh are women will decide fate of the candidates. Politicians frequently switching parties and loyalties over the last five years, intensified as the elections got nearer and confused the voters to a large extent. 27 of the 40 legislators, who were elected in 2017, are today contesting from a party different from the one they represented during the last elections. In the last five years, 15 from the Congress and 2 from the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and all 3 independents, who were elected in 2017, have switched sides. 4 from the BJP have moved to other parties while another four, who had defected from other parties to the BJP, are either contesting as independents or on the tickets of other parties which were willing to accept them. Congress being a party prone to defections, is in alliance with the Goa Forward Party, has sworn not to take any of the defectors back and ensured that the alliance’s 40 candidates publicly swear that they will not switch sides after the elections. The entry of Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal had made elections more interesting. TMC had made a pre-poll alliance with Maharashtra Gomantak party (MGP). Billboards sporting the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s face became ubiquitous across Goa, as the party embarked on a publicity blitzkrieg. Now, on the cusp of polling in Goa, the wheels have come off the Trinamool bandwagon. Luizinho Faleiro who was initially announced as the party’s candidate for the Fatorda constituency to take on Goa Forward supremo Vijai Sardesai withdrew from the race on the last day of filing of nominations. Likewise Tennis ace Leander Paes, whose father traces his origins to Goa was deputed to campaign for the party reaching out to influencers has also deserted it. The party brought eight of the 25 candidates on board after they failed to make the list of the Congress or the BJP. The Goa Forward candidate quit the party after he was denied a ticket and within hours was announced as the TMC’s candidate from the St. Andre constituency. However differences between the party’s nominees and foot soldiers of the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), the Prashant Kishor outfit running the TMC operation in Goa have come to the fore as have differences between leaders. For instance, veteran politician Churchill Alemao and his daughter Valanka, who are both contesting the election on TMC tickets have, on more than one occasion, displayed displeasure with either party’s choice of candidates or the stance adopted by the party on several issues. The growing rift within the party compelled Mamata Banerjee to restructure National Working Committee in an emergency meeting on 12 February. Despite the recent setbacks, the Trinamool Congress can win a handful of constituencies and remains on track to open its account in the state. The worst for the TMC came on the eve of polling, when one of the associate’s rented accommodation was raided by the police and he was taken into custody for alleged possession of contraband narcotic substances. The National Convener of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Arvind Kejriwal had announced multiple freebies along with 12.5% quota to the Scheduled Tribe in the assembly and a World-Class City status to Goa.

According to the latest data, Goa recorded an unemployment rate of 11.6%, higher than the national average which stood at 7.3% in February 2022. The government attempted to mitigate the problem of unemployment through government recruitment when more than 10,000 posts were advertised in the year leading up to the election. The rising unemployment has given rise to nativism in Goa that unsurprisingly has been directed at ‘outsiders’ who are said to be “taking all the jobs” and has even spurred the launch of a political party — the Revolutionary Goans Party — that has promised to put the interest of Goa and Goans first. Entry of moneyed people from Delhi, Maharashtra and other States in the local real estate business has also become an issue. The eight Saleete (the Portuguese version name of Kankaki Saxxti derived from original 66 villages of the territory) has been on the hinge on which Goa political fortune have revolved. With a Christian population of roughly more than 40% in all these seats, the area has largely remained unaffected to the BJP and the Sangh Parivar and has remained the party’s ‘Achilles Heel”. Late BJP Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s ‘Mission Saleete’ and toning down of Hindutva agenga, had succeeded in party palatable to the Catholic minority and helped the party to create a base. The party is fielding candidates on all seats in the critical region. The political behaviour of the region has always remained opposite to the mainstream. Manoj Parab–led RG Party is appealing to the youth with a narrative of Goa’s ‘Sons of the Soil’ being deprived of job and opportunities. It had created a stir with its promise to get the POGO (Person of Goan Origin) Bill passed in the Assembly to give Goans their rights by focussing on jobs, government schemes, land and housing board projects. The sex scandal, job scam and mining corruption are the other issues in this election. The Goa Assembly poll is completely geared up as the ruling BJP looks to retain power against challenges from the Congress, and debutantes Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The opinion polls had also predicted likely return of the BJP in the State.