Report: Sanjay Borkar

Daijiworld Media Network – Goa

Goa, Aug 23: Civil society movement ‘Priority Goa’ has urged Opposition parties in Goa not to give election tickets to known defectors and leaders associated with the BJP ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections.

Although the Goa Assembly elections are constitutionally due in February-March 2027, speculation over an early poll has already begun. Against this backdrop, ‘Priority Goa’, led by coastal activists, has submitted a memorandum to Opposition parties including the Congress, Goa Forward Party, Aam Aadmi Party and Revolutionary Goans Party, seeking a blacklist of 20 known defectors and several leaders linked to the BJP.

Convenor Swapnesh Sherlekar said the credibility of the Opposition would depend on its ability to resist inducting habitual defectors and those aligned with the ruling dispensation. Members of ‘Priority Goa’ also met AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge during his recent visit to Goa and apprised him of the political situation in the state.

The delegation urged the Congress chief to refrain from accommodating defectors or individuals linked to the BJP, arguing that a clean slate of candidates would help restore public trust and strengthen the Opposition's moral position ahead of the polls.

With the stated objective of safeguarding democracy, ‘Priority Goa’ has released a list of 20 politicians who switched to the BJP from the Congress and MGP since 2019. Eighteen of those listed are from the Congress. The list also identifies two politicians under a category described by the movement as ‘tainted’.

Sources said that following the movement's campaign, Opposition parties have halted the induction of some politicians whose names figure on the blacklist.

Not only ‘Priority Goa’, but MGP senior leader and Power Minister Sudin Dhavalikar has also expressed the view that defectors should not be given tickets. His party's MLAs Manohar ‘Babu’ Ajgaonkar of Pernem and Deepak Pauskar of Sanvordem had switched to the BJP in 2019, reducing the MGP's strength to one in the 40-member Goa Assembly. Dhavalikar was subsequently dropped from the cabinet at the time.

Dhavalikar, now a minister in the BJP-led government, had also served as a minister in earlier Congress-led governments. He has said Goa's ‘defection model’ has become a template replicated in other states, eroding democratic values and undermining the sanctity of the people's mandate.

Goa, despite being a small state known for its beaches, heritage sites and Portuguese-era structures, has a long history of political upheaval. Since 1963, the state has witnessed 30 chief ministers from different parties and imposition of President's Rule five times due to political crises.

From 1989 to 1999, chief ministers changed 10 times. On April 2, 1994, Ravi Naik became chief minister for just six days after switching from the MGP to the Congress. One of the early instances of political switching was in 1970, when then chief minister Dayanand Bandodkar saved his government from collapse by splitting the United Goans Party after a revolt by his own MGP MLAs.

Since 2017, two major rounds of defections have seen Congress MLAs join the BJP. Although the Congress emerged as the largest party in the 2017 Assembly election with 17 MLAs, the BJP, with 13 seats, formed the government and later completed its term with increased strength after welcoming Congress defectors.

In March 2017, then Congress MLA Vishwajit Rane resigned from the party and Assembly, joined the BJP, won the subsequent bypoll and became a minister. In October 2018, Congress legislators Subhash Shirodkar and Dayanand Sopte also resigned and joined the BJP before winning their bypolls.

On July 10, 2019, Congress suffered another major setback when 10 MLAs, including then Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavalekar, switched to the BJP. Kavalekar and six other defectors later lost the February 2022 Assembly elections.

Before the February 2022 Assembly election, former Congress leader Ravi Naik joined the BJP and was elected from Ponda. He served as a minister in the cabinet of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant until his death on October 14, 2025.

Congress had made defections a major campaign issue in 2022, with its candidates taking oaths in churches, dargahs and temples, besides pledging allegiance to the Constitution. However, eight Congress legislators elected in that election merged with the BJP on September 14, 2022, after two earlier attempts in July and August had failed.

The eight were former chief minister Digambar Kamat, Leader of Opposition Michael Lobo, Delilah Lobo, Kedar Naik, Sankalp Amonkar, Rajesh Faldessai, Aleixo Sequeira and Rudolf Fernandes.

In the 2022 election, Congress had 11 MLAs in the 40-member Assembly, while the BJP had 20. The BJP's strength later rose to 28, with the party also enjoying the support of two MGP MLAs and three Independents.

The Congress has repeatedly alleged that the BJP is attempting to create an ‘Opposition-free India’ through defections. With the 2027 polls approaching, ‘Priority Goa’ is now urging Opposition parties to make political defections a central electoral issue and deny tickets to those who have repeatedly switched sides.

Goa has also witnessed instances where defectors were rejected by voters in subsequent elections. ‘Priority Goa’ maintains that denying tickets to habitual defectors would help restore public trust, strengthen democratic credibility and present the Opposition as a united alternative to the BJP.