The BJP, which held the Panaji Assembly seat in Goa for 25 years, on May 23 lost it to the Congress, whose candidate Atanasio Monserratte won the bypoll. The Panaji Assembly bypoll was necessitated due to the death of sitting MLA and former chief minister Manohar Parrikar in March. Monserratte secured 8,748 votes while BJP's Siddharth Kunkolienkar polled 6,990 votes, an election official said. The Goa Suraksha Manch candidate and former Goa RSS chief Subhash Velingkar came in at the third spot, getting just 560 votes while AAP's nominee Valmiki Naik came in fourth with 436 votes. In the 2017 Assembly poll, Kunkolienkar had defeated Monserratte by around 1,600 votes.