After being denied a ticket by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Utpal Parrikar, the son of former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, declared on Thursday, 27 January, that he will contest from his father's constituency Panaji as an independent candidate.
Parrikar offered prayers at a temple on Thursday morning before filing his nomination papers from Panaji. He will contest against BJP MLA Atanasio Monserrate, who was chosen over him for the Panaji seat.
Parrikar had quit the BJP last week and declared that he would contest from his father's constituency anyway.
Manohar Parrikar, a three-time Chief Minister, had held the Panaji seat for 25 years before his demise in 2019. In the by-election after Parrikar's death, Monserrate, accused in a rape case, had won as a Congress candidate but later switched to the BJP.
Talking to news agency PTI, Utpal Parrikar, had said that the decision to quit the BJP was "most difficult".
Meanwhile, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant also filed his nomination papers on Thursday from the Sanquelim constituency in North Goa.
After filing his nomination papers in the presence of BJP’s Goa election in-charge Devendra Fadnavis, Sawant said, "We will win 22 plus seats in these 2022 elections”.
Thursday also saw two other significant former BJP personalities filing their nomination papers as independent candidates.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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