The outcome of the willful polarisation in this election was most starkly apparent in Goa, where a marked consolidation of the Catholic vote prevented the BJP from making a clean sweep of the electoral stakes, though its government rules in the state.
With less than 11 lakh voters, India’s smallest state has just two Lok Sabha seats. The BJP managed to retain the North Goa seat but lost to the Congress in South Goa, where voter statistics tell a story of the undercurrent of unease over another five years under Narendra Modi.
Goa’s Christians account for a quarter of the state’s population. Their numbers have been shrinking proportionally with the domestic influx and the community’s accelerated flight to pastures abroad. But in pockets where they have a strong presence, a consolidation of their vote can sway the outcome, as it did in South Goa. Here, Congress veteran Francisco Sardinha defeated the BJP’s outgoing MP Narendra Sawaikar.