Goa CM Manohar Parrikar to contest Panaji by-election; Congress, AAP to field candidates

The Goa unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said chief minister Manohar Parrikar will contest by-election from Panaji. The announcement was made by Goa BJP President Vinay Tendulkar. Parrikar has represented Panaji for five terms since 1994.

Manohar Parrikar resigned as the defence minister of India in March this year. Since Parrikar is only a member of the Rajya Sabha and not an MLA, he is required to contest an election before completing six months as Goa CM. His close aide, Siddharth Kuncalienkar, is the sitting MLA from Panaji. He had contested the by polls in 2014 after Parrikar resigned to join the Union Cabinet.

"The party has decided that CM Parrikar will contest from Panjim, so MLA Sidharth Kuncalienker has willingly decided to resign," Tendulkar said.

Former Congress MLA Vishwajeet Rane, who resigned from the party after the Congress failed to form a government in Goa, will also contest elections from Valpoi, the Indian Express reported. Rane, who had won 13,493 votes as a Congress candidate in the recently concluded assembly elections, joined the BJP and is now a minister in the Parrikar government. 

It is still not known who will contest against Parrikar in the upcoming Panaji by-election. However, the Indian Express reported Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) would field candidates against Parrikar.

AICC Secretary Girish Chodankar told daily that the Congress would field a candidate against Parrikar. "This time there will be a candidate on the Congress ticket. We haven't yet decided who it will be and we should expect to announce a name within a week." Chodankar also confirmed that the party would field a candidate to contest against its former MLA Rane in Valpoi.

The AAP also confirmed that it would field a candidate against Parrikar and the name would be announced soon.