BJP's Shripad Naik wins North Goa seat, Cong nominee Fernandes clinches South Goa

Panaji, Jun 4 (PTI) BJP candidate and Union minister Shripad Naik registered his sixth consecutive victory from the North Goa Lok Sabha constituency in Goa, while war veteran Viriato Fernandes of the Congress defeated his nearest rival from the ruling saffron party.

Polling for Goa's two parliamentary seats - North Goa and South Goa - was held in a single phase on May 7.

As per the data revealed by the Election Commission of India (ECI), Naik won the seat by a margin of 1,13,621 votes as he polled 2,53,812 votes and defeated his nearest rival Ramakant Khalap, a Congress nominee who polled 1,40,191 votes.

Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) candidate from North Goa, Tukaram Parab, received 45,460 votes.

This is for the sixth consecutive time that Naik has won the election from the North Goa parliamentary constituency on a BJP ticket. Naik is a minister in the Narendra Modi-led Union cabinet.

Khalap, whom Naik defeated, was a minister in the cabinet led by former prime minister late Rajiv Gandhi.

The South Goa seat was closely contested with Congress candidate Fernandes defeating his nearest rival and entrepreneur Pallavi Dempo by a margin of 14,216 votes.

Fernandes, a Navy official-turned-politician, got 2,16,022 votes as against the 2,01,806 votes won by Dempo. Both were first time candidates for the Lok Sabha polls.

RGP candidate Rubert Pereira bagged 18,718 votes in South Goa.

Speaking about the results, Goa Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant said the party welcomes the results of the North Goa seat where Naik won, and gracefully accepts the verdict given by the electorate in South Goa.

"BJP will continue to work for the welfare of the people of the state," he said.

Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president Amit Patkar said that the verdict in South Goa was people's victory as the election was fought between money power and people's power.

"The entire BJP and its cabinet had gathered against the Congress candidate in South Goa," he alleged.

Speaking about the defeat in North Goa, Patkar said his party needs to learn lessons from this election and that it would work towards strengthening the organisation in the assembly constituencies of North Goa. PTI RPS NP