Panaji: BJP candidate Dayanand Sopte, who had joined the party after resigning from Congress, managed to retain the Mandrem assembly constituency seat by winning with a margin of 3943 votes.
While BJP candidate Sopte polled 13,168 votes his nearest rival, Independent candidate Jeet Arolkar got 9225 votes. Congress candidate Babi Baghkar polled 4221 votes.
Goa Suraksha Manch’s Swaroop Naik polled 615 votes in the election that was held on April 23.
The election in this constituency was necessitated after Sopte who was then Congress MLA, resigned to join BJP. He had left the party along with then Shiroda MLA Subhash Shirodkar.
The election in this constituency was crucial as former Chief minister and BJP leader Laxmikant Parsekar had expressed his unhappiness over inducting Sopte in the party. After signaling the possibility of rebelling against the party, Parsekar had later announced that he would not go against the party.
