Margao: The likely reservation of four assembly segments — Quepem, Sanguem, Nuvem and Priol — for Scheduled Tribe candidates ahead of the 2027 polls has triggered a scramble among sitting MLAs and aspiring candidates to identify “safer” constituencies. Though the Election Commission is yet to notify the reserved constituencies, the recent developments have already forced at least two prominent legislators into the open about their fallback plans.The Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes in Assembly Constituencies of the State of Goa Act, 2025, was brought into force by the Centre on Aug 6, activating the legal machinery to carve out four assembly seats for ST candidates. While the process still requires the Registrar General and Census Commissioner to ascertain Goa’s ST population followed by a delimitation exercise, Quepem, Sanguem, Priol and Nuvem have consistently figured as the frontrunners for reservation. And the notification alone has been enough to set off a round of constituency-hunting among non-tribal MLAs and aspirants.Quepem, currently held by Congress MLA Altone D’Costa, has emerged as ground zero for the scramble. D’Costa, who defeated BJP’s Chandrakant Kavlekar in 2022, has told TOI he is comfortable contesting from Velim, Navelim or Canacona in 2027, and has already discussed the options with the Congress leadership. His choices are not unconstrained, though — Velim, held by AAP’s Cruz Silva, could go out of reach if Congress and AAP forge an alliance for 2027, D’Costa, however,said that Congress would guard against the kind of infighting among ticket aspirants currently roiling the BJP.That infighting was on full display through Sanguem MLA Subhash Phal Dessai’s recent public overtures towards Curchorem, held by BJP’s Nilesh Cabral. With both Sanguem and Quepem — Quepem is Phal Dessai’s political base — tipped to go the reserved way, the Sanguem MLA’s visit to a couple of temples in Curchorem was widely read as a signal of his intent to shift there in 2027. A quick damage control exercise by BJP followed, and Phal Dessai was forced to do a hasty albeit reluctant retreat. With Phal Dessai’s gaze increasingly drifting towards Curchorem, non-tribal aspirants who had begun groundwork in Sanguem are said to be recalibrating their plans in parallel, even as tribal aspirants appear visibly buoyant. Former MLA Prasad Gaonkar, who had gone into hibernation after his defeat in 2022, has suddenly rediscovered his enthusiasm for Sanguem’s “vikas.”The most closely watched of the four segments, Nuvem’s sitting MLA Aleixo Sequeira, who crossed over from Congress to BJP, has publicly stated he intends to contest the 2027 assembly polls regardless, saying he would “cross the bridge when I come to it.” A reservation here would also affect the political comeback plans of former MLA Mickky Pacheco, who had indicated that he or his wife Viola would contest from Nuvem in 2027, as well as former MLA Wilfred D’Sa and emerging aspirants including former Goa Vikas Party president Lyndon Monteiro and Congress leader Everson Vales, several of whom are said to be scouting adjoining segments as a fallback.In Priol, the possibility of this assembly segment going to ST candidates has intensified positioning within the tribal community networks of Ponda taluka. Non-tribal aspirants eyeing Priol are said to be weighing options in Ponda or nearby Madkai and Shiroda instead.Political observers say the ST reservation issue has led to Congress and BJP handle a problem common to both: what to do with MLAs and aspirants whose political futures have now been threatened by the ST reservation process.
