# 1963 Goa, Daman and Diu Legislative Assembly election

The first elections to the Goa, Daman & Diu Legislative Assembly were held in December 1963, to elect members of the 30 constituencies, in the Union territory of Goa, Daman and Diu, India.
The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party won the most seats (fourteen), and its leader, Dayanand Bandodkar was appointed as the Chief Minister of Goa, Daman and Diu. The United Goans Party won 12 seats, three seats were won by Independents, whereas the Jawaharlal Nehru-led Indian National Congress only won one seat.

## Background

After the Annexation of Dadra and Nagar Haveli in 1954, followed by the Annexation of Goa in 1961, the new union territory of Goa, Daman and Diu was established. Later, in 1963, after the passing of the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963, Goa, Daman and Diu was assigned a Legislative Assembly of thirty seats.
To facilitate the upcoming election, A. F. Couto was made the Chief Electoral Officer of the union territory on 19 August 1963. The Delimitation Commission of India split up the Union territory into 30 constituencies; 28 in Goa and one each for Daman and Diu. On 3 October, it was announced that the Indian National Congress, Frente Popular and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) were allowed to have reserved electoral symbols, followed on 24 October, by the United Goans Party (UGP).

## Election Schedule

| Event | Date |
| Last Date for filing Nominations | 11 November 1963 |
| Date for scrutiny of nominations | 13 November 1963 |
| Last date for withdrawal of candidatures | 16 November 1963 |
| Date of poll | 9 December 1963 |
| Date before which the election shall be completed | 11 December 1963 |

## Results

Seats :
| | Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party | 100,117 | 40.13 | 14 |
| | United Goans Party | 74,081 | 29.69 | 12 |
| | Indian National Congress | 43,100 | 17.27 | 1 |
| | Frente Popular | 4,548 | 1.82 | 0 |
| | Independents | 27,648 | 11.08 | 3 |
| Total | Total | 249,494 | 100.00 | 30 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 249,494 | 95.82 | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 10,878 | 4.18 | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 260,372 | 100.00 | |
| Source: |||||
* ↑ Independents included two candidates of the Praja Socialist Party

## Elected Members

| # | Constituency | Member | Party |
| 1 | Pernem | Kashinath Shetgaonkar | Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party |
| 2 | Mandrem | Vijay Kamulkar | Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party |
| 3 | Siolim | Pandurang Purushottam Shirodkar | Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party |
| 4 | Calangute | John D'Souza | United Goans Party |
| 5 | Aldona | Orlando Sequeira Lobo | United Goans Party |
| 6 | Mapusa | Raghunath Tople | Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party |
| 7 | Tivim | Shambu Palienkar | Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party |
| 8 | Bicholim | Kusmakar Kadkade | Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party |
| 9 | Pale | A. K. S. Usgaonkar | Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party |
| 10 | Sattari | Jaisingrao Rane | Praja Socialist Party |
| 11 | Panaji | Jack Sequeira | United Goans Party |
| 12 | Santa Cruz | Joaquim L. Araujo | United Goans Party |
| 13 | Santo Andre | Teotonio Pereira | United Goans Party |
| 14 | Sant Estevam | Dattaram Chopdekar | Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party |
| 15 | Marcaim | Vasant Velingkar | Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party |
| 16 | Ponda | Gajanan Raikar | Praja Socialist Party |
| 17 | Siroda | Pundalik Naik | Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party |
| 18 | Sanguem | Tony Fernandes | Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party |
| 19 | Canacona | Ganba Desai | Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party |
| 20 | Quepem | Dattaram Desai | Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party |
| 21 | Curchorem | Vittal Karmali | United Goans Party |
| 22 | Cuncolim | Sebastiao Mazarelo | United Goans Party |
| 23 | Benaulim | Maurilio Furtado | United Goans Party |
| 24 | Navelim | Alvaro de Loyola Furtado | United Goans Party |
| 25 | Margao | Vasudeo Narayan Sarmalkar | United Goans Party |
| 26 | Curtorim | Enio Pimenta | United Goans Party |
| 27 | Cortalim | Luis Proto Barbosa | United Goans Party |
| 28 | Marmagoa | Urminda Mascarenhas | United Goans Party |
| 29 | Daman | Kalidas Patel | Indian National Congress |
| 30 | Diu | Mamdali Jiwani | Independent |
* ↑ Resigned for Dayanand Bandodkar

## Aftermath

On 20 December 1963, Dayanand Bandodkar was sworn in as Chief Minister. His cabinet included only two other ministers, Vittal Karmali and Tony Fernandes. Jack de Sequeira, of the UGP, was the first Leader of the Opposition and Pandurang Purushottam Shirodkar was the first Speaker of the Assembly.
Since the party in government, the MGP, was in favour of merging the territory with Maharashtra, they precipitated the issue. This led to the 1967 Goa status referendum, where the voters rejected the merger and instead opted to remain a Union Territory.

## Bypolls

| Year | Constituency | Reason for by-poll | Winning candidate | Party | Party |
| 1964 | Marcaim | Resignation of V.C. Velingker | Dayanand Bandodkar | | Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party |
| Source:ECI ||||||