The son of late Manohar Parrikar said factors such as ward delimitation, last-minute reservation changes and a short campaign period may have affected the outcome.
“Our panel hoped to win at least 10 seats in the 30 wards, but we fell short of that target. The results were not as expected. We had higher expectations. There could be several reasons for this and we will analyse them,” he said.
Parrikar said that due to the delimitation of wards and last-minute reservation changes, candidates”especially new faces”had barely 15 days to campaign and connect with voters.
Despite the losses, he said several candidates came close to winning. “In at least 10 wards, our candidates, though new faces, came close to the winning candidate. It was almost a one-to-one fight. They should continue working in their wards,” he said.
Parrikar added that four other candidates lost by fewer than 50 votes. “The narrow margins show that we have a strong support base that needs to be consolidated,” he said.
When asked about the defeat of former Panaji mayor Surendra Furtado, Parrikar said the senior former councillor had to contest from a different ward and eventually lost.
“We accept the people’s mandate. Now we must work to convert these small margins. I will go into the field and continue working,” Parrikar said.
