The Panaji assembly constituency will go to polls in the Goa assembly elections on February 14. The Panaji assembly constituency election result will be declared along with the Goa election results on March 10. Panaji is part of the North Goa district.

The BJP has fielded local heavyweight and sitting MLA Atanasio Monserrate from Panaji, which belonged to late chief minister Manohar Parrikar. This time, however, the Panaji contest will be interesting.

Manohar Parrikar’s son Utpal Parrikar will be contesting as an independent after he turned rebel on not getting the BJP ticket from the assembly segment. The AAP’s former CM candidate for Goa, Elvis Gomes, is now contesting on a Congress ticket while the AAP’s Valmiki is trying his luck for the third time.

A total of seven candidates are in the fray. A total of 16 candidates had filed their nominations, while three were rejected and one had withdrawn. Of the seven candidates, four are in the ‘crorepati’ bracket. Monserrate has declared nine criminal cases in his election affidavit.

Following is the complete candidate list from the Panaji assembly seat along with details from their 2022 election affidavits as analysed by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR):

Atanasio Monserrate, Bharatiya Janata Party

Sitting MLA Monserrate is the local heavyweight and a former Congressman, who joined the BJP in 2020. He is among four out of seven contesting candidates under the ‘crorepati’ bracket. According to his election affidavit, he has nine criminal cases registered against him. The 59-year-old is a social worker and a Class 12 pass-out. He has declared Rs 48.5 crore as his total assets, of which Rs 13.1 crore are movable and Rs 35.3 crore are immovable. He has declared Rs 13.5 lakh as his self income and Rs 6.5 crore as liabilities. In more reports analysed by ADR, his assets have increased by Rs 26.87 crore — from Rs 21.61 crore in 2017 to Rs 48.48 crore in 2022.

Elvis Gomes, Indian National Congress

The founder of the AAP’s Goa unit, Gomes jumped ship to the Congress in 2020. It was a major blow for the AAP as he was the CM face of the party in the 2017 elections. A former bureaucrat, the 59-year-old is a graduate as per his election affidavit. He, too, is in the ‘crorepati’ bracket with Rs 1.2 crore total assets. Rs 93.6 lakh accounts for his movable assets while Rs 30 lakh as immovable. He has liabilities of Rs 2 lakh and a self-income of Rs 6.2 lakh. He does not have a criminal record, as per the affidavit.

Valmiki Datta Naik, Aam Aadmi Party

Naik is contesting the elections for the third time as an AAP candidate. According to his election affidavit, the 45-year-old has declared his profession as civil engineer and developer. A postgraduate, he has total assets worth Rs 5.7 crore of which Rs 1 crore are movable and Rs 4.7 crore immovable. He, too, is under the ‘crorepati’ bracket. He has not declared any liability or criminal case. He has a self-income of Rs 5 lakh.

Utpal Parrikar, Independent

BJP rebel and late CM Manohar Parrikar’s elder son, Utpal is the BJP rebel to watch out for. After failing to get a party ticket from his father’s constituency, Utpal said he will be contesting the elections as an independent. He has said there is a “silent wave in his favour”. The youngest candidate in the fray at 41 years old, he has declared business as his profession. The postgraduate has total assets worth Rs 12 crore, of which Rs 9.4 crore are movable and Rs 2.7 crore are immovable. According to his election affidavit, he has declared Rs 49.9 lakh as liabilities and Rs 53.2 lakh self-income. He has not declared any criminal case.

Rajesh Vinayak Redkar, Revolutionary Goans Party

According to his election affidavit, Redkar is a Class 12 pass-out and has declared business as his profession. The 50-year-old has not declared any criminal case. He has Rs 1.4 crore total assets, of which Rs 24.1 lakh are movable and Rs 1.1 crore immovable. He has Rs 39,000 liability and a self-income of Rs 3.8 lakh.

Devendra Sundaram

Sundaram is a Class 5 pass-out without any criminal case registered against him. The 47-year-old is a businessman by profession, as per his election affidavit. He has declared Rs 7.7 lakh total assets, which also account for his movable assets. He has not declared any liability, immovable assets or self-income.

Yeshwant Madar

A Class 8 pass-out, Madar is a 46-year-old businessman. He has Rs 6 lakh total assets, of which Rs 3 lakh are movable and Rs 3 lakh are immovable. He has not declared any liability, self-income or criminal case.

The Goa assembly has 40 seats in all, with 21 being the majority mark. These 40 Goa constituencies are spread between two districts – North Goa (19 constituencies) and South Goa (21).

In the 2017 Goa elections, the BJP won 13 out of 40 assembly seats with an approximately 32 per cent vote share. The saffron party’s vote share was more than that of the Congress, which got more seats. The grand old party won 17 seats but had vote share of 28 per cent.

The BJP had to form a coalition with Goa Forward Party and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party to form the state government, with the late Manohar Parrikar becoming CM.

The Goa contest is crucial for the BJP, where it has been in power since the 2012 assembly elections. With Pramod Sawant at the helm, there is a perception in the BJP that a split in votes due to regional parties that are not Goa-based will benefit the saffron party. But even Sawant has acknowledged the impact that these parties will have on seats. There are, however, high chances of a hung assembly. The term of the current legislative assembly ends on March 15.

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