Fighting Goa Assembly polls was never cakewalk for Shiv Sena, NCP, shows data

The Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the ruling allies in Maharashtra, have forged an alliance for the first time in Goa for the February 14 Assembly elections, but data shows that winning seats in this coastal state has never been an easy task for the two parties individually, and their candidates had lost deposits on several occasions in the past polls. Data of to the previous elections showed that the Sharad Pawar-led NCP has fared better than the Shiv Sena in terms of the number of votes polled.

The Shiv Sena has been fighting elections in Goa since 1989, while the NCP has been on the state’s electoral scene since 2002.

After the 2019 Assembly elections in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena, which till then allied with the BJP, joined hands with the NCP and the Congress, to form a government, which was christened as the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

The Shiv Sena and the NCP had last week announced that they would contest the Goa elections together. Both parties will collectively fight 20 seats for the 40-member House.

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, who announced the first list of nine candidates for the Goa Assembly polls on Friday, said he wanted the MVA model in Maharashtra to be replicated in Goa this time, which is why he had approached the Congress with that proposal. But the Congress did not show any willingness to forge a pre-poll alliance with Sena-NCP, he said.

He also said that if the BJP retains power in Goa, it is the Congress that should be blamed as it refused to tie up with the two parties.

In 2007, the NCP had contested the Goa Assembly polls in alliance with the Congress, while Shiv Sena has always fought the elections in the state alone without a tie-up with the BJP.

In 2017, the NCP had contested 17 seats, but could win only one seat, while its deposit on 16 seats was forfeited. The party polled 20,916 votes and registered 2.28 per cent share in the total valid votes polled. The Shiv Sena, on the other hand, had contested three seats at that time, but could not open its account. It had polled 792 votes and recorded 0.09 per cent vote share in the total valid votes polled.

The Aadm Aadmi Party (AAP), which entered Goa’s poll fray for the first time in 2017, had contested 39 seats and its candidates lost deposit on 38 seats. The party polled 57,420 votes and got 6.27 per cent share in the total valid votes polled.

In 2012, the NCP had contested seven seats and had lost deposit in three places. The party had polled 34,627 votes and got 4.08 per cent share in the total valid votes polled at that time. The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena had contested three seats, but lost deposit on all three of them. It had polled only 210 votes. The party got 0.02 per cent share in the total valid votes polled.

That year, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) had contested 20 seats and lost deposit on 19 seats. The party had polled 15,323 votes with 1.81 per cent share in the total valid votes polled.

In 2007, the NCP had contested six seats and won three of them. The party lost its deposit in one seat. It polled 35,731 votes, getting 5.02 per cent share in the total valid votes polled. The Shiv Sena had fielded seven candidates, but all of them lost their deposits. The party had bagged 1,049 votes with 0.15 per cent share in the total valid votes.

The NCP had contested 20 seats in 2002 and won one of them while losing deposits in 12 seats. The party had secured 37,093 votes with 5.83 per cent share in the total valid votes polled. The Shiv Sena had fielded 15 candidates and all of them lost their deposits. The party got 4,946 votes with 0.78 per cent share in the total valid votes.

In 1999, the Sena had contested 14 seats and lost deposit in all of them. It had secured 5,987 votes with 1.04 per cent share in the total valid votes polled.

In 1994, the party had contested two seats, when it bagged 8,347 votes and got 1.45 per cent share in the total valid votes polled, while in 1989, of the six seats it had contested, it had lost deposit on five of them. It had bagged 4,960 votes and 0.98 per cent share in the total valid votes polled.