After having won the last three elections by huge margins, Marcaim MLA and MGP leader Sudin Dhavalikar is confident that he would achieve similar success in the 2017 polls as well, going by the voter turnout on Saturday.
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According to sources close to Dhavalikar, the four-time MLA was so confident of his success that he had not bothered to campaign much in Marcaim, but instead, focused his campaign in other parts of the State, where he mobilised support for the MGP-GSM-Shiv Sena alliance candidates.
“Interestingly, much of the election campaign in Marcaim constituency was done by his family members, which was a rare situation in these elections,” said the source.
“In fact, most of his supporters had told him not to waste his time by undertaking door-to-door
campaigns in Marcaim as it was not needed. That way, he saved the time by visiting other constituencies,” the source said.
Such has been Dhavalikar’s confidence in the polls at Marcaim constituency, that political speculations over the winning candidates have been restricted to the remaining three constituencies of Ponda, Priol and Shiroda in Ponda taluka.
Dhavalikar has been MLA of Marcaim since 1999 and minister since 2002. In 2012, he won the seat by 14,952 votes, while his opponent opponent Ritesh Naik, son of Ravi Naik, could secure barely just 7,722 votes.
In 2007, he had defeated Govind Gaude by 12141 votes, with Gaude polling only 4,532 votes. In the 2002 elections, Dhavalikar had defeated Santosh Mahanandu Naik by another huge margin of 11,587 votes, with Naik securing only 3,737 votes.
