Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar will contest the bye-election from Panaji. Sitting Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from the state capital Siddharth Kuncalienkar resigned on Wednesday to make way for Parrikar to contest from the seat. The schedule for the bye-poll has not been announced yet.
Parrikar needs to contest an election within six months of taking charge of the state government because he was a member of the Rajya Sabha and not an MLA when he became the chief minister in March. He had resigned as defence minister to take up the job.
The Congress has decided to field a candidate against Parrikar. “This time there will be a candidate on a Congress ticket,” All India Congress Committee Secretary Girish Chodankar told The Indian Express. “We haven’t yet decided who it will be, but we expect to announce a name within a week.”
An Aam Aadmi Party candidate will also contest the bye-election from the constituency, but the party has not announced a name yet.
The BJP won 13 of the 40 seats in the Goa Assembly, while the Congress won 17. However, the BJP formed government with the support of three Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party MLAs, three Goa Forward Party MLAs and two independent legislators.
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