BJP leading in both seats in Goa

Panaji, May 16 (IANS) Early trends in Goa Saturday indicated that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was leading in both Lok Sabha constituencies of the state, bringing some cheer to the party that was on a downturn, as indicated by national voting trends.

While BJP's former union minister of state for finance and sitting MP Shripad Naik led from the North Goa seat by 9,775 votes from his nearest Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) rival Jitendra Deshprabhu, the party's Narendra Savoikar was leading in the South Goa seat - which used to be a predominant Congress stronghold - with a slender margin of 800 votes ahead of his Congress rival Francisco Sardinha, at the end of three rounds of counting.

While the BJP polled 36,556 votes in North Goa, the NCP - which is contesting in Goa in alliance with the Congress - has polled 26,781 votes in the same constituency.

The usual political fanfare around the counting centres located in Panaji and Margao is missing this time round in view of instructions from the Election Commission of India which has directed strict security arrangements.