Panaji: As Goa prepares for counting of votes polled in the February 14 Assembly elections on Thursday, a jittery Congress shifted all its candidates to a luxury resort near Panaji and engaged in talks with political rival AAP for support in government formation if there was a fractured mandate.
More than 300 candidates contested for the 40 assembly seats which saw multi-cornered fights due to presence of several smaller and regional outfits besides the BJP and the Congress, the two major political forces in Goa.
The votes will be counted at two places Damodar College in Margao and Government College of Polytechnic at Altinho in Panaji covering Assembly constituencies falling in North Goa district and South Goa district, respectively, from 8 am, officials said on Wednesday. A senior official said all the results are expected by around noon.
Most exit polls have predicted a hung House in the tiny coastal state, leading the political parties to formulate their strategies keeping in mind different post-result scenarios.
Desperate to avoid a repeat of the 2017 fiasco when it had failed to form a government in Goa despite bagging the maximum number of seats, the Congress shifted all the candidates who had contested the Assembly polls to a luxury resort in Bambolim village near Panaji on Tuesday evening with their luggage, indicating the government formation may be a long haul.
However, Congress leaders refused to admit that the party was corralling its candidates as it is not willing to take any chances given the delicate number game.
We are here (in the resort) to celebrate the birthday of Opposition leader Digambar Kamat. It's a celebration time, Congress candidate Michael Lobo, who contested the election from his home turf Calangute, told reporters.
Kamat, a former CM, celebrated his birthday on March 8.
Lobo said the Congress had nothing to fear as all the candidates are united. "There is no worry about poaching," said Lobo, who quit the BJP ahead of the polls and joined the Congress.
However, a senior Congress leader spoke about the anxiety in the party over retaining the flock against the backdrop of the 2017 experience wherein intense infighting and delay in staking claim to form a government cost the party dear. There are worries. That is why the candidates are kept under one roof. Some of the candidates will not be allowed even to visit the counting centres tomorrow. Their counting agents will represent them, he said.