Goa Election 2022 Result: People have rejected scamsters, outsiders - BJP's Vishwajit Rane

Counting of votes in the Goa Election 2022 is underway, and with the latest trends suggesting the BJP is closing in on the halfway mark, leaders of the saffron party have expressed confidence over returning to power.

BJP leader Vishwajit Rane told reporters in the state, "We will sweep this Goa election. People have rejected scamsters, outsiders. They have voted for a party that works for the people of Goa." 

Meanwhile, when asked if Pramod Sawant will continue as the state's chief minister if the party comes into power, Rane said, "Party leadership will decide."

Exit polls had earlier indicated that the coastal state might be heading for another hung assembly, much like the cliffhanger of 2017. Data predicted both BJP and the Congress would end up with around 15-18 seats each in the 40-member house. The kingmaker is likely to be Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, which might win 2-4 seats.

Sanquelim is a town and municipal council in North Goa district and one of the 40 Legislative Assembly constituencies of the state.

In 2017, CM Pramod Sawant won the seat by defeating Congress' Dharmesh Saglani with a margin of 2131 votes, accounting for 8.99 per cent of the total votes cast for the seat. The BJP had received 42.44 per cent of the vote in this seat.

The single-phase assembly elections in Goa saw a high voter turnout of 78.94 per cent for the 40 assembly seats. According to the Chief Electoral Officer's official data, the highest voter turnout was recorded in the Sanquelim constituency at 89.61 per cent, while the lowest was in Benaulim at 70.2 per cent.