Congress lost by ‘very small’ margin in Goa, says P Chidambaram

Panaji (Goa) [India], March 10 (ANI): Accepting defeat in Goa, Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday said that the Congress lost by a ‘very small’ margin.
We accept the verdict of the people of Goa. Our candidates fought bravely, despite several obstacles… People have voted BJP to power and we accept that. In several constituencies, we lost with very small margins,” said Chidambaram addressing a press conference here today.
At 6:41 pm, Congress in Goa won 10 seats and is leading in 1, a total of 11. Meanwhile, BJP has already won 20 seats.
“Split in votes among various parties ended up in our numbers being less than what we had hoped for…BJP won by a little over 33 per cent of votes, remaining votes got divided”, said Chidambaram.
BJP leader and Goa election in-charge Devendra Fadnavis said that Goans have shown faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi.” The people of Goa have given us a clear majority. We will get 20 seats or even 1-2 seats more. People have shown faith in PM Modi”, said Fadnavis.
In Goa, predictions were for a hung assembly, due to a multi-cornered contest with parties including the BJP, Congress, Trinamool Congress, and AAP. In 2017, Congress had emerged as the single largest party in the state, winning 17 seats but the BJP, which won 13 seats, managed to form the government with the support of the Goa Forward Party and the MGP which had won three seats each, and two independents. (ANI)