Panaji: Congress is trying to woo its traditional secular vote bank in the Goa assembly elections. The party is making every effort to keep this vote united. However, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) contesting elections could spoil the equations of the Congress as it is likely to divide the votes. In the 2017 assembly elections, there was only a gap of four per cent votes between Congress and the BJP. The decision to lose 10 seats in the 40-seat assembly was less than 1,000 votes. Congress had won five of these ten seats and BJP had won four of them. While one seat was dominated by an independent candidate.
A senior Goa Pradesh Congress leader says elections are more difficult than in 2017. The AAP had tried its luck in the last election as well, though the AAP did not get any seats at that time but managed to win six per cent of the votes. This is more than the difference between Congress and the BJP. In Goa, the TMC and the Maharashtrian Gomantak Party (MGP) are contesting in the alliance. In the last election, the MGP got three seats and 11 per cent votes. In such a situation, the alliance between TMC and MGP could become a problem for Congress. Because the MGP has its own vote bank in the state.
At the same time, Congress is short of very good candidates. The Congress got 17 seats in 2017, but most of the MLA have left together in the last five years. This MLA has joined another party. This has made the party's electoral path more difficult. Even after all this, Congress is expecting Goa. According to a state Congress leader associated with election strategy, people will not vote for the Party of Delhi and Kolkata in this election as in the last election. Unemployment, price rise and communal violence will be major issues in the Goa elections.
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