Panaji: In a major setback to the united opposition led by former defence minister and ex-chief minister Manohar Parrikar’s son, Utpal, the ‘Together for a Progressive Panaji’ panel backed by BJP and revenue minister Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate swept the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) elections by winning 27 of the 30 wards.The victory comes months ahead of the 2027 assembly election.The ‘Ami Panjekar’ panel led by Utpal, who explored the united opposition formula in the CCP polls as he planned to contest the next assembly elections to defeat Monserrate and regain his father’s legacy of representing the constituency in the assembly, could only win three seats. Utpal now has to explore a new strategy to counter Monserrate and BJP.Meanwhile, incumbent mayor Rohit Monserrate defeated Ami Panjekar candidate John Po.Babush increased his tally by two seats from the 2021 CCP polls, where he won in 25 wards.The 2026 CCP elections were Utpal’s first, and he fought it with the help of Congress and AAP. Of the three elected candidates under the ‘Ami Panjekar’ banner, one each belonged to AAP and Congress, while the third was Utpal’s candidate.A political observer said that Utpal failed to cash in on the resentment against the ruling dispensation. In the 2022 assembly polls, Monserrate fought a close contest with Utpal, who contested as an independent, and eventually won by fewer than 1,000 votesThe outcome attributed the Utpal panel’s defeat to an unholy alliance with Congress and AAP, which pushed some of his father’s supporters to move to the BJP-backed panel due to ideological differences, a lack of grassroots connect with the people, failure to remain in touch with residents, and a lack of strong opposition to Monserrate’s panel.In an interesting contest in ward 17, Jack Sukhija of the Utpal panel secured victory by just two votes, defeating Monserrate-backed panel candidate Dennis Edward Francis Jorge. The result was declared after three rounds of counting.After the victory, Monserrate took a massive rally from Miramar to the BJP office. Chief minister Pramod Sawant and state BJP president Damodar Naik joined the celebration at the BJP headquarters in Panaji. Monserrate said that a message has gone out to the opposition that even a united force cannot defeat BJP.The Panaji MLA said that no one should take the people for granted, and that the people are the king. He thanked the party for giving him the opportunity to lead the panel. “Mayor will be decided by the party,” he said.Sawant described the CCP election results as a trailer for the 2027 assembly election, and said BJP would win 30 seats.“Babush was expected to win, but the scale of victory proved that the combined opposition was no match for him. It was a fight that was required instead of a walkover. That they stood together without splitting is a great achievement. Looks like Panjim is safe for Babush in 2027,” said senior advocate and political observer Cleofato Coutinho. MSID:: 129554110 413 |
