Goa Assembly Election 2022: Calangute to Witness Tough Fight Between BJP’s Joseph Sequeira & Congress’ Michael Lobo

In the 2022 elections, Congress' Michael Lobo, will be pitted against BJP's Joseph Robert Sequeira. Interestingly, Lobo, who was a minister under chief minister Pramod Sawant, quit the BJP to join the Congress around a week before the Assembly elections were notified.

Goa Assembly Election 2022: Calangute is a town in the North Goa district and one of the 40 Legislative Assembly constituencies of Goa. Calangute is famous for its beaches, which are brimming with shacks, eating joints and bars. Due to its sheer size and popularity, it is a hub for tourists and backpackers from all over the world.

In 2017, Michael Vincent Lobo of Bharatiya Janata Party won the seat by defeating Joseph Robert Sequeira from Indian National Congress with a margin of 3825 votes. This time, the Goa assembly election is all set to be a multi-cornered contest with the entry of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC), set to give the ruling BJP a tough fight. While AAP has announced that it will contest all the 40 seats, the TMC has allied with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP). The Congress has joined hands with Vijay Sardesai’s Goa Forward Party (GFP).

In the 2022 elections, Congress’ Michael Lobo, will be pitted against BJP’s Joseph Robert Sequeira. Interestingly, Lobo, who was a minister under chief minister Pramod Sawant, quit the BJP to join the Congress around a week before the Assembly elections were notified. Lobo was the minister for science, technology, and waste management in the BJP-led Goa government.  On the other hand, former Congress leader Joseph Robert Sequeira, an ex-Sarpanch from Calangute constituency, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Key Candidates

1. Michael Lobo: Congress
2. Joseph Robert Sequeira: BJP
3. Sudesh Mayekar: AAP
4. Anthony Menezes: TMC-MGP

What does opinion poll say?

According to a poll conducted by Zee News, termed – ‘Janata Ka Mood’, Congress is gaining big in South Goa, the Congress-GFP alliance may get 41% vote share here, while BJP may bag 32%, TMC-MGP is likely to get 12%, Aam Aadmi Party 7%, and others may get 8% vote share. For North Goa, the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to gain 38 per cent of the vote share in the region as compared to 36 per cent in 2017. The vote of the Aam Aadmi Party is also likely to increase its vote per cent from 6 per cent in 2017 to 10 per cent in 2022.

FULL SCHEDULE: GOA ASSEMBLY ELECTION 2022

The term of the current Goa assembly will expire on March 15, 2022. The elections for the 40-member Goa Assembly will be held in single-phase on February 14. The votes will be counted and the results will be declared on 10 March 2022. The EC is expected to implement a strict Covid-19 protocol as it announces poll dates amid a surge in coronavirus cases in India. Chief minister Pramod Sawant will be contesting from Sanquelim while deputy chief minister Manohar Ajgaonkar will contest from Margaon.

• Date of Polling: February 14

• Date of Counting: March 10

Stay tuned with India.com for all the updates about the Calangute Constituency. Click Here to go to India.com’s special Election page and read more about poll campaigns to election results, winners, losers, victory margin, and all other details.