Margao: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Goa on Tuesday cited the results of the recent Rajasthan local body elections as fresh evidence that a vote for the Congress ultimately strengthens the BJP and cautioned Goan voters against repeating the pattern in the upcoming Assembly elections.
In at least three civic bodies where the Congress won the highest number of seats — Ajmer Municipal Corporation, Pali Municipal Corporation, and Kuchaman City Nagar Parishad — Congress councillors cross-voted to install BJP candidates as Mayor or Chairperson. In Ajmer, the Congress led with 37 seats to the BJP’s 32, yet BJP’s Anamika Sharma was elected Mayor with 43 votes. In Pali, the Congress led 29 to 21, yet BJP’s Namita Bubakia won with 33 votes. In Kuchaman, the Congress led 17 to 15, and BJP’s Mahesh Ramchandka still secured the chair with 25 votes.
By contrast, in the Baran Municipal Council, where voters gave the AAP a clear majority of 31 out of 60 seats, every AAP councillor remained with the party. There was no cross-voting, and AAP’s Sheetal Rathore was elected Chairperson.
Prashant Naik, Organisation Secretary, AAP Goa, said:
“Rajasthan has just given the country a lesson. Congress workers fight the election, and their own councillors hand the chair to the BJP the same evening — this has now happened in three cities in a row. Goa has seen this film before. Seventeen Congress MLAs won in 2017; ten joined the BJP. Eleven won in 2022; eight joined the BJP. Baran shows what happens when people vote for a party that actually stays and fights: AAP’s 31 councillors stayed 31, and AAP got its Chairperson.”
Sandesh Teleikar Dessai, Senior Vice President, AAP Goa, said:
“Congress should stop the Goy Rakhonn Yatra and start an MLA Rakhonn Yatra instead, because its real problem is holding on to its own MLAs and councillors. Goans who genuinely want to defeat the BJP need to understand this clearly — splitting the anti-BJP vote between the Congress and the AAP only lets the BJP form the government through the back door, exactly as it happened in Ajmer, Pali, and Kuchaman. Only a strong AAP-Goa First alliance can defeat the BJP and form a people’s government.”
AAP Goa said that with the Assembly elections approaching, voters must consolidate behind the party to prevent a repeat of the defection pattern in Goa, where a divided vote could once again be converted into a BJP victory through post-result defections.
