Goa Election 2022: As the Goans are gearing up to vote tomorrow to elect their next government, all eyes are on key candidates and constituencies. While the poll equations are quite different this time with many prominent Congress turncoats contesting on the BJP tickets and some BJP leaders trying their luck as Independents, the entry of Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena-NCP, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have made the contest even more interesting with two main parties being the BJP and the Congress. Other parties in the fray are the Revolutionary Goans, Goencho Swabhimaan Party, Jai Mahabharat Party and Sambhaji Brigade besides 68 independent candidates.

Altogether, 301 candidates are in the fray from 40 assembly seats while there are over 11 lakh voters eligible to exercise their franchise. While the Congress-GFP, BJP, TMC-MGP have fielded 40 candidates each, 39 candidates are in the fray on the AAP ticket. Of the key candidates are incumbent Chief Minister Pramod Sawant of BJP from the Sanquelim constituency, Leader of the Opposition Digambar Kamat of Congress from the Margao seat and Utpal Parrikar from the Panaji seat.

Also Read: Goa Election 2022: Full BJP candidate list and their constituencies

Sanquelim: BJP leader and incumbent CM Pramod Sawant has won from the Sanquelim seat twice and is seeking re-election for the third time. While he lost the 2008 bypoll from Pale, Sawant went on to win from the Sanquelim or Sankhali seat in 2012 and 2017. This time he is facing Dharmesh Saglani of Congress and Manoj Gandhi Amonkar of TMC.

Also Read: Goa Election 2022: Full list of AAP candidates and their constituencies

Margao: Leader of the Opposition in Goa Assembly Digambar Kamat is a Congress candidate from the Margao seat. Margao has been the traditional stronghold of the Congress and Kamat has won from the seat six times in a row, three times each on the BJP and the Congress tickets. The only former chief minister of Goa in the race who has completed full five-year tenure, Kamat will face BJP’s Manohar Trimbak Azgaonkar and AAP’s Lincoln Vaz.

Also Read: Goa Election 2022: Full list of Congress-Goa Forward Party (GFP) candidates

Benaulim: From the Benaulim assembly constituency, former chief minister and sitting MLA Churchill Alemao is contesting on the TMC ticket. While Benaulim was a Congress stronghold between 1977 and 1994, since then, the party has lost its grip on the seat winning it only once. Alemao won the seat in 1989, 1994, 1999 and in 2017. This time, he is facing Congress candidate Anthony Dias and BJP’s Damodar Narvinva Bandodkar from the seat.

Panaji: The fight has become interesting this time from the Panaji seat which was once a stronghold for former CM Manohar Parrikar. This time, the BJP has fielded Congress turncoat Atanasio Monserratte from the seat, sidelining Parrikar’s son Utpal who was keen on contesting from the seat. After denial of a ticket by the BJP, Utpal is contesting from the seat as an independent candidate. Congress has now fielded Elvis Gomes from the seat while AAP has given a ticket to Valmiki Naik.

Fatorda: The Congress has given three seats to its ally Goa Forward Party (GFP) and one of them is Fatorda. The GFP has fielded its president Vijai Sardesai from the seat. He will face BJP’s Damodar Gajanan Naik and AAP’s Sandesh Telekar. Naik had won from the seat twice in 2002 and 2007. While Sardesai won as an independent candidate from the seat in 2012, he was re-elected in 2017 from his party GFP.

Other key candidates in the fray are Ravi Naik of BJP from Ponda, Laxmikant Parsekar as an independent from the Mandrem seat against the BJP’s Dayanand Raghunath Soptem and AAP’s CM face Amit Paleker. The AAP has fielded Palekar from the St Cruz seat against the BJP’s Antonio Fernandes and Congress party’s Rodolf Louis Fernandes.

The counting of votes will take place on March 10.