Bypoll buzz, ministerial berth imbroglio drives high voter interest in Ponda polls

Panaji: Ketan Bhatikar kept pacing up and down outside the zilla panchayat polling booth at MIBK High School, Khandepar, on Saturday. It was his birthday, and by the end of the day, Bhatikar, who was MGP’s candidate at the last state assembly elections hoped for a positive assessment from his karyakartas.“We are doing our best against the biggest machinery,” said Bhatikar, who clashed with his party before the ZP polls. “By 5pm, our karyakartas and voters will hopefully give me a birthday gift.”The ZP polls may seem inconsequential to many due to the body’s limited powers, but in Ponda, this time around, politicians have a lot riding on them. Bhatikar differed with the MGP line for the ZP elections, while still with the party, to field independent candidates.At the last assembly elections, Bhatikar contested the Ponda seat and narrowly lost to BJP’s Ravi Naik.With the demise of Naik, a minister in the Pramod Sawant cabinet, bypolls for Ponda are looming. Bhatikar has already thrown his hat into the proverbial ring, even as MGP has decided to give the bypolls a pass, indicating that it wants to allow Naik’s son a possible walkover.The ZP polls may now seem like a tester for Bhatikar, without the backing of his party, the MGP.

However, locals think otherwise. “MGP has said it is supporting the BJP. But where is MGP on the ground?” asked voter Vishwanath Naik. “There will be a tough fight for the seats this time around,” said another voter, Sandeep Parker.Ponda has seven ZP seats — Curti, Betki-Khandola, Kavlem, Borim, Shiroda, Usgao-Ganjem, and Veling-Priol, with a total of 1.2 lakh voters. Curti is among the hotly contested seats, with Bhatikar backing independent Bhika Kerkar and BJP fielding Pritesh Gaonkar.

With the seat being declared reserved for ST, some new calculations were at play.Betki-Khandola is also expected to be a close fight between an independent previously linked to MGP, Sunil Zalmi, and BJP sitting ZP member Shramesh Bhosle. Voter interest was visible in the long queues outside polling booths.“The voter turnout will be higher than in previous ZP elections in Ponda taluka, because a sitting MLA passed away while serving as minister, whereas another had to give up his ministerial berth (legislator Govind Gaude from Priol). Even a long weekend could not affect the turnout,” said former Curti-Khandepar sarpanch John Pereira.