Venzy Viegas of Aam Aadmi Party defeated Churchill Alemao of TMC in Benaulim.
Panaji:
Venzy Viegas has emerged as a giant killer in Goa. inside council electionson of a mechanic and candidate of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) defeated Churchill Alemao of the Trinamool Congress in Benaulim.
Alemao, former Minister and 5 times MLA, was Benaulim’s favorite company and joined TMC in December 2021. He dismissed Viegas as a “bachcha” right before the election.
When the results of the Benaulim election were announced on Thursday, Viegas immediately became famous. AAP director Arvind Kejriwal congratulated him, saying this is “The Beginning of Honest Politics” in Goa. Antonio Feliciano Dias of Congress is the third candidate from the seat.
Viegas told NDTV he was “thrilled and excited”. “I have no political background. My father is a mechanic. I come from a simple and god-fearing family,” he added.
“People have put their trust in me because they realize that AAP is now the only hope of the Indian people,” he added.
Viegas then listed his priorities, saying he would become the voice of Goa. He also talked about the set of private member bills he plans to introduce on the council. Viegas now plans to take a look at them.
What is his number 1 priority? “I want to make ambulance access mandatory for all Goans.”
Viegas also wants to “tweak” Goa’s Sound Act, whereby music must be turned off at 10pm. He says this is bad for the business.
“I want to amend the Sound Act so that there is no corruption. Music should not be stopped at 10pm because that’s when business is just starting, so such measures should be taken so that people don’t get hurt. disturbance but can also continue to do business””, Viegas told NDTV.
Before the election, Alemao had turned down Viegas’ challenge to debate. Speaking to NDTV in January, he said, “Why would you by bachcha name, man? Call Kejriwal. I never took that person’s name, people like him come and go. He then dubbed the AAP the “B-team” of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
‘Why did you take the name of bachcha, guys?’ – Churchill’s response when I asked him if he was debating his AAP opponent, a first timer called Venzy Viegas. Venzy won. #Goahttps://t.co/rhEYfLrfgx
– Sreenivasan Jain (@SreenivasanJain) March 10, 2022
According to the numbers on the Election Commission’s website, the AAP candidate defeated Mr. Alemao by 1,271 votes.
A win against Alemao will be the confidence that powers AAP. The veteran politician has won the Benaulim award four times – in 2017, 1999, 1995 and 1990.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerges as the largest single party in Goa council electionswon 20 out of 40 seats, just short of a majority of 21. Minister Pramod Sawant said the three winning Independent Senators had pledged to support the BJP and that it had also received support from the Party. Maharashtrawadi Gomantak (2 seats).
