Congress suffers setback ahead of assembly election

Panaji: The death of two politicians within a span of seven months has created a void in Ponda politics.

Congress candidate for the Ponda bypoll Ketan Bhatikar died on Friday.

In Oct 2025, former chief minister and agriculture minister Ravi Naik passed away, while former Ponda MLA Lavoo Mamledar died in Feb 2025 following a road rage incident. Bhatikar's death created a big void for Congress in the Ponda constituency ahead of the 2027 assembly elections.

A day before voting for the bypoll on April 8, the high court cancelled the voting. Ponda politics mostly revolved around Naik, but after his death, Bhatikar tried to gain ground in Ponda. His work during the Covid pandemic is remembered by the voters in Ponda. Naik had won the 2022 assembly election by 77 votes.

But with no political stalwarts left in Ponda, some old and new faces are likely to emerge in Ponda constituency like Naik’s son Ritesh and Congress’ Rajesh Verenkar and Vishwanath Dalvi, among others.

BJP and Congress will have to go back to the drawing board to plan a new strategy for the Ponda assembly seat and decide who their candidates will be to win the seat.

MGP has won the Ponda constituency most of the time and Naik was instrumental in winning the seat for Congress even after he was once an MGP MLA. BJP won once in the 2022 assembly election, after Naik quit Congress and joined BJP.

Ponda has mostly seen a direct fight between MGP and Congress. BJP did not have much stake in Ponda till Naik joined BJP. Even in 2012, BJP allotted the Ponda constituency to its pre-poll alliance partner, MGP, which was able to win the seat.

Senior advocate and political observer, Cleofato Coutinho, said that Bhatikar’s death has created a clear void in the opposition space. “Though he had a personal network which helped him enter Congress and become the party’s candidate despite the party having a candidate of its own, his thirst to take on the powerful made him a formidable force. Bhatikar’s social work did not stop after the loss in Ponda,” Coutinho said.

“Where his personal network organisation will go is the issue. Can Congress capture that organisation of Bhatikar or will it support power minister and MGP’s Sudin Dhavlikar is to be seen. In Ponda, he represented the anti-Ravi Naik space. It remains to be seen if Verenkar can claim that space,” he added.