Perhaps for the first time since it became mandatory for candidates to declare past criminal record, an election in Goa will have candidates with no criminal background. Joint Chief Electoral Officer Narayan Navti, while addressing mediapersons said that it has become an “extremely rare” occurrence to not have candidates with criminal background. “It could be the first time that it has happened here,” Navti said.
The Panaji bypoll on February 13 was necessitated after the elevation of then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar as the Defence Minister in November last year. Parrikar had won the Panaji on five occasion in the past.
The BJP candidate for Panaji and Parrikar’s protégé, Siddharth Kuncalienkar, faces challenges from Congress candidate and current Mayor Surendra Furtado as well as two other Independent candidates.
While Kuncalienkar is an engineer by profession, the current Mayor Surendra Furtado (Congress) who is a businessman. Two Independents are also in the fray namely Samir Kelekar, an Indian Institute of Technology and Columbia University alumnus and a lawyer Sadanand Vaingankar. 22,057 voters to cast ballot on the February 13 bypolls.