2024 Lok Sabha polls | All eyes now on South Goa seat candidates
The Hindu
A senior BJP leader told PTI that Narendra Sawaikar and Chandrakant Kavlekar are among the front-runners from the saffron party.
After the announcement of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Shripad Naik's candidature from North Goa Lok Sabha seat, all eyes are now on who will be the nominees of the BJP and the Congress from South Goa seat.
Mr. Naik's name figured in the first list of 195 candidates declared by the BJP in Delhi on Saturday for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The coastal State has two Lok Sabha constituencies - North Goa and South Goa.
While the North Goa seat has been represented by Mr. Naik for five consecutive terms, the South Goa seat has been won by the Congress, BJP and regional parties on different occasions.
Currently, Congress leader Francis Sardinha is the member of Parliament from South Goa.
In 2019, Mr. Sardinha defeated BJP candidate and then sitting MP Narendra Sawaikar by polling 47.47% of the votes. Mr. Sawaikar had polled 45.18% votes.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was also in the fray in 2019 and its candidate Elvis Gomes secured 4.92% votes.
The Election Commission of India will hold a press conference on June 3, a day before the counting of votes polled in the Lok Sabha polls. Till the 2019 parliamentary polls, deputy election commissioners used to hold media briefings after each phase of polls, but the practice has been done away with.