# 2012 Goa Legislative Assembly election

The Goa legislative assembly election was held on 3 March 2012, to select the 40 members of the Sixth Goa Legislative Assembly, as the term of 5th Goa Legislative Assembly ended in March 2012.
The result was announced on 6 March. The Bharatiya Janata Party-Maharashtrawadi Gomantak alliance defeated the incumbent Indian National Congress government in Goa led by Chief Minister Digambar Kamat with 24 seats in the 40-seat assembly. The Bharatiya Janata Party won 21 seats, while the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party won 3 seats. The MLA with the biggest margin of victory was the incumbent MLA Frances D'Souza of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Former chief minister Manohar Parrikar was sworn in as the new chief minister on 9 March.

## Timetable

The timetable of the electoral events are:
| Event | Date |
| Issue of Notification | 6 February |
| Candidature filing deadling | 13 February |
| Clearance of nominees | 14 February |
| Candidature withdrawal deadline | 16 February |
| Election | 3 March |
| Result | 6 March |
| Deadline to finish election | 9 March |

## Parties

The Indian National Congress (INC), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are the national political parties in the fray. Other regional parties include the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak, Goa Vikas Party, United Goans Democratic Party and Go Su-raj Party.

## Issues

The issue of the cultural identity of Goa has also come to the fore in the past few years. The population of Goa has rapidly swelled due to increasing migration levels from neighboring Karnataka and Maharashtra, as well as from further afield such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

### Corruption

Following the 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement several allegations of corruption have been made on the incumbent government going to elections this year.
Nepotism was also an issue. Former CM and current head of the Goa TMC Wilfred de Souza accused the INC of perpetrating a "Family Raj" in its allotment of tickets for the election to relatives of INC leaders from such families as the Naiks, Alemaos, Ranes, and Monserrates. He also cited the denial of an electoral ticket to his son-in-law Tulio D’Souza in Saligao Assembly constituency despite the INC also denying him a ticket.
He also criticized the inability of incumbent CM Digambar Kamat to have stopped illegal mining while he was the minister of mining and finance minister in the previous government. He cited a report by a commission led by Justice M. B. Shah to investigate illegal mining in the country that suggested potential revenue of US$423 million was lost through illegal ore exports after he said he had seen a "leaked" version of the report.

## Results

Summary of the Goa Legislative Assembly election, 2012 result :
| Party | Seats contested | Seats won | Seat change | Vote share |
| Bharatiya Janata Party | 28 | 21 | 7 | 34.68% |
| Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party | 7 | 3 | 1 | 6.72% |
| Indian National Congress | 34 | 9 | 7 | 30.78% |
| Nationalist Congress Party | 6 | 0 | 3 | 4.08% |
| United Goans Democratic Party | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1.17% |
| Goa Vikas Party | 9 | 2 | 2 | 3.5% |
| Save Goa Front | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0% |
| Independents | 72 | 5 | 3 | 16.67% |
| Total | — | 40 | — | — |
The following is the list of winning MLAs in the election.
Results by constituency :
| Assembly Constituency | Assembly Constituency | Winner | Winner | Winner | Winner | Runner Up | Runner Up | Runner Up | Runner Up | Margin |
| # | Name | Candidate | Party | Party | Votes | Candidate | Party | Party | Votes | Margin |
| 1 | Mandrem | Laxmikant Parsekar | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 11955 | Dayanand Sopte | | Indian National Congress | 8520 | 3435 |
| 2 | Pernem | Rajendra Arlekar | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 16406 | Manohar Ajgaonkar | | Indian National Congress | 8053 | 8353 |
| 3 | Bicholim | Naresh Sawal | | Independent | 8331 | Rajesh Patnekar | | Indian National Congress | 6532 | 1799 |
| 4 | Tivim | Kiran Kandolkar | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 10473 | Nilkanth Halarnkar | | Nationalist Congress Party | 9361 | 1112 |
| 5 | Mapusa | Francis D'Souza | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 14955 | Ashish Shirodkar | | Nationalist Congress Party | 4786 | 10169 |
| 6 | Siolim | Dayanand Mandrekar | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 11430 | Uday Palienkar | | Indian National Congress | 9259 | 2171 |
| 7 | Saligao | Dilip Parulekar | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 10084 | D'souza Tulio | | Independent | 4276 | 5808 |
| 8 | Calangute | Michael Lobo | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 9891 | Agnelo Fernandes | | Indian National Congress | 8022 | 1869 |
| 9 | Porvorim | Rohan Khaunte | | Independent | 7972 | Govind Parvatkar | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 7071 | 901 |
| 10 | Aldona | Glenn Ticlo | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 11315 | Dayanand Narvekar | | Indian National Congress | 7839 | 3476 |
| 11 | Panaji | Manohar Parrikar | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 11086 | Yatin Parekh | | Indian National Congress | 5018 | 6068 |
| 12 | Taleigao | Jennifer Monserrate | | Indian National Congress | 10682 | Dattaprasad Naik | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 9531 | 1151 |
| 13 | Santa Cruz | Atanasio Monserrate | | Indian National Congress | 8644 | Rodolfo Louis Fernandes | | Independent | 6308 | 2336 |
| 14 | St. Andre | Vishnu Wagh | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 8818 | Francisco Silveira | | Indian National Congress | 7599 | 1219 |
| 15 | Cumbarjua | Pandurang Madkaikar | | Indian National Congress | 9556 | Nirmala P. Sawant | | Independent | 7981 | 1575 |
| 16 | Maem | Anant Shet | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 12054 | Pravin Zantye | | Independent | 6335 | 5719 |
| 17 | Sanquelim | Pramod Sawant | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 14255 | Pratap Gauns | | Indian National Congress | 7337 | 6918 |
| 18 | Poriem | Pratapsingh Rane | | Indian National Congress | 13772 | Vishwajit Krishnarao Rane | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 11225 | 2547 |
| 19 | Valpoi | Vishwajit Pratapsingh Rane | | Indian National Congress | 12412 | Satyavijay Subrai Naik | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 9473 | 2939 |
| 20 | Priol | Deepak Dhavalikar | | Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party | 12264 | Govind Gaude | | Independent | 10164 | 2100 |
| 21 | Ponda | Lavoo Mamledar | | Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party | 12662 | Ravi Naik | | Indian National Congress | 9472 | 3190 |
| 22 | Siroda | Mahadev Naik | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 12216 | Subhash Shirodkar | | Indian National Congress | 9954 | 2262 |
| 23 | Marcaim | Sudin Dhavalikar | | Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party | 14952 | Ritesh Naik | | Indian National Congress | 7722 | 7230 |
| 24 | Mormugao | Milind Naik | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 7419 | Sankalp Amonkar | | Indian National Congress | 6506 | 913 |
| 25 | Vasco da Gama | Carlos Almeida | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 11468 | Jose Philip D'Souza | | Nationalist Congress Party | 6978 | 4490 |
| 26 | Dabolim | Mauvin Godinho | | Indian National Congress | 7468 | Premanand Nanoskar | | Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party | 6524 | 944 |
| 27 | Cortalim | Matanhy Saldanha | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 7427 | Nelly Rodrigues | | Goa Vikas Party | 5158 | 2269 |
| 28 | Nuvem | Francisco Pacheco | | Goa Vikas Party | 12288 | Aleixo Sequeira | | Indian National Congress | 8092 | 4196 |
| 29 | Curtorim | Aleixo Lourenco | | Indian National Congress | 11221 | Domnic Gaonkar | | Independent | 7152 | 4069 |
| 30 | Fatorda | Vijai Sardesai | | Independent | 10375 | Damodar G. Naik | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 8436 | 1939 |
| 31 | Margao | Digambar Kamat | | Indian National Congress | 12041 | Rupesh Mahatme | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 7589 | 4452 |
| 32 | Benaulim | Caetano Silva | | Goa Vikas Party | 9695 | Valanka Alemao | | Indian National Congress | 7694 | 2001 |
| 33 | Navelim | Avertano Furtado | | Independent | 10231 | Churchill Alemao | | Indian National Congress | 8086 | 2145 |
| 34 | Cuncolim | Subhash Rajan Naik | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 7738 | Joaquim Alemao | | Indian National Congress | 6425 | 1313 |
| 35 | Velim | Benjamin Silva | | Independent | 13164 | Filipe Nery Rodrigues | | Indian National Congress | 8238 | 4926 |
| 36 | Quepem | Chandrakant Kavlekar | | Indian National Congress | 10994 | Prakash Velip | | Independent | 4621 | 6373 |
| 37 | Curchorem | Nilesh Cabral | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 14299 | Shyam Satardekar | | Indian National Congress | 5507 | 8792 |
| 38 | Sanvordem | Ganesh Gaonkar | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 10585 | Arjun Salgaocar | | Independent | 8294 | 2291 |
| 39 | Sanguem | Subhash Phal Desai | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 7454 | Yuri Alemao | | Nationalist Congress Party | 6971 | 483 |
| 40 | Canacona | Ramesh Tawadkar | | Bharatiya Janata Party | 14328 | Isidore Fernandes | | Indian National Congress | 11624 | 2704 |

### By-election

Shortly after the election, the Cortalim seat was opened for a by-election following the death of the incumbent, Matanhy Saldanha, as a result of a heart attack. His wife, Alina Saldanha, was originally scheduled to run against Raymond D’Sa of the INC and independent candidate Ramakant Borkar, though the latter two soon withdrew from the race and she was elected unopposed on 25 May. She was given her husband's ministerial portfolio as forest minister. She immediately said that she would not allow mining on forest land.

## Analysis

The Daily Pioneer called this election "the first time that the BJP has stamped its success in so many of those constituencies that have a significant population of the minority community."