Goa Elections 2022: How can Congress form government if it locks its own MLAs, says BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis

While counting of votes polled in the February 14 Assembly elections in Goa will be taken up on Thursday morning, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said that BJP will get good results and will ll get a thumping majority.

The BJP leader also raised questions after the Congress moved its candidates to a resort in north Goa, where they will stay until counting of votes is over.

"How can Congress form the government if it doesn't trust its own MLAs and locks them up?," the BJP leader asked.

Stung by defections in the past, the party has reportedly moved its candidates. The Congress has done this to avoid a 2017-style disaster in which it failed to form a government even after winning the most seats.

"I'm absolutely sure that BJP will get good results, people are ready to come with us & with them, we'll get a thumping majority. How can Congress form the government if it doesn't trust its own MLAs & locks them up?," Devendra Fadnavis was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

As many as 302 candidates contested for the 40 assembly seats which saw multi-cornered fights due to presence of several smaller and regional outfits besides the BJP and the Congress, the two major political forces in Goa.

The votes will be counted at two places - Damodar College in Margao and Government College of Polytechnic at Altinho in Panaji - covering Assembly constituencies falling in North Goa district and South Goa district, respectively.

Most exit polls have predicted a hung House in the tiny coastal state, leading the political parties to formulate their strategies keeping in mind different post-result scenarios.

Besides the BJP and the Congress, the Goa Forward Party, the Maharashtra Gomantak Party, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Trinamool Congress apart from independents contested the polls.

In the 2017 polls, despite winning 17 seats, the Congress could not come to power as the BJP, which had bagged 13 seats, allied with some independents and regional parties to form the government under the leadership of Manohar Parrikar.

The simple majority mark in the 40-member House is 21.

(with agency inputs)