One legislator abstains in Goa RS bypoll

Thirty-nine out of the 40 Goa legislators on Friday voted for the crucial lone Rajya Sabha seat, where Congress candidate Shantaram Naik is pitted against BJP`s Damodar Naik.

Panaji: Thirty-nine out of the 40 Goa
legislators on Friday voted for the crucial lone Rajya Sabha seat,
where Congress candidate Shantaram Naik is pitted against
BJP`s Damodar Naik.

NCP MLA Fransisco Micky Pacheco abstained claiming that
he did not want to support any of the candidate.

Deputy Speaker Mauvin Godinho was the first voter to
arrive at the State Legislative Assembly Complex followed by
Power Minister Aleixo Sequiera and Congress legislator
Reginaldo Lourenco.

Congress had appointed an observer inside the polling
booth.

All except one from the Congress and two NCP legislators
displayed their votes to the observer before pushing them in
the ballot box.

Both the legislators of Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party
(MGP) refused to show their votes to the observer.

MGP has pledged support to Congress Candidate Shantaram
Naik, who is the sitting Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament from
Goa.

Congress legislator and former minister Dayanand Narvekar
refused to show his vote to the observer.

"I am loyal Congressmen and I have voted for Shantaram
Naik," Narvekar told reporters outside the booth ruling out
the possibility of cross-voting.

The fate of BJP`s Damodar Naik is entirely dependent on
cross-voting as the party has no strength to garner majority.

The 40-seat Legislative Assembly comprises 20 Congress,
14 BJP, 3 NCP, two MGP and an independent legislator.

Meanwhile, talking to reporters, Pacheco said he did not
want to vote for Shantaram Naik as the Congress has been
harassing him.

"At the behest of Chief minister Digambar Kamat, Law
Secretary Pramod Kamat, who is a former judge, has appointed
Special Public Prosecutor Sarojini Sardinha to uphold my
conviction in the district court," alleged the NCP legislator
from Benaulim constituency, who was dethroned from his
ministerial post last year.

Pacheco was convicted by Judicial Magistrate First Class
(JMFC) for assaulting a junior engineer, attached to
electricity department in 2008.

The legislator said that he did not favour BJP because
the party has taken a stand contradictory to parents` wish in
the Medium of Instruction (MOI) matter.

PTI

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