Panaji, May 28: With four newly-elected MLA’s taking oath to serve the government and the masses to the full, ten strength of the Goa Legislative Assembly has again restored to the original 40 on Tuesday. In the new setting, the BJP has emerged as the single largest party with 17 MLAs, reversing the 2017 position when the saffron party had won 13 seats and the Congress 17 in the assembly elections.
The legislators who took oath are named to be Subhash Shirodkar, Dayanand Sopte and Joshua D'Silva from the BJP and Atanasio Monserratte of the Congress, who all together followed the administration of oath by the acting Speaker Michael Lobo. This novel quadrilateral got elected in the bypolls held to four seats, results for which were announced on May 23.
The very recently crowned Chief Minister Pramod Sawant was amongst the dignitaries who attended the swearing-in ceremony held at the Assembly complex.The ruling BJP has now become the largest political party having 17 MLAs comprising three legislators, while the Congress now has 15 members. Though the Congress had emerged as the single largest party in 2017, the BJP quickly cobbled up a coalition to form a government under late Parrikar.
“Byelections to Shiroda and Mandrem were held due to defection of Shirodkar and Sopte to the BJP last year. Panaji and Mapusa seats fell vacant due to the death of sitting MLAs chief minister Manohar Parrikar and former deputy chief minister Francis D'Souza, respectively”, the statement reported.
The BJP ally Goa Forward Party now has three MLAs while another coalition partner Maharashtravadi Gomantak Party has one MLA. The Nationalist Congress Party has one legislator, while rest three are Independents. The Pramod Sawant-led government is however supported by the GFP, MGP and Independents.