1963 Goa, Daman and Diu Legislative Assembly election

1963 Goa, Daman and Diu Legislative Assembly election
9 December 1963 1967 →
All 30 seats in the Goa, Daman & Diu Legislative Assembly
16 seats needed for a majority
Turnout50-70%[1]
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
Leader Dayanand Bandodkar Jack de Sequeira
Party MGP United Goans Party INC
Leader's seat Marcaim (bypoll) Panaji
Seats before New New New
Seats won 14 12 1
Seat change New New New
Popular vote 40.13% 29.69% 17.27%
Elected CM

Dayanand Bandodkar
MGP

The first elections to the Goa, Daman & Diu Legislative Assembly were held in December 1963, to elect members of the 30 constituencies, in the Union territory of Goa, Daman and Diu, India.[2]

The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party won the most seats (fourteen), and its leader, Dayanand Bandodkar was appointed as the Chief Minister of Goa, Daman and Diu.[3][4] The United Goans Party won 12 seats, three seats were won by Independents, whereas the Jawaharlal Nehru-led Indian National Congress only won one seat.[5][6]

Background

After the Annexation of Dadra and Nagar Haveli in 1954, followed by the Annexation of Goa in 1961, the new union territory of Goa, Daman and Diu was established. Later, in 1963, after the passing of the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963, Goa, Daman and Diu was assigned a Legislative Assembly of thirty seats.[7]

To facilitate the upcoming election, A. F. Couto was made the Chief Electoral Officer of the union territory on 19 August 1963.[8] The Delimitation Commission of India split up the Union territory into 30 constituencies; 28 in Goa and one each for Daman and Diu.[9] On 3 October, it was announced that the Indian National Congress, Frente Popular and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) were allowed to have reserved electoral symbols,[10] followed on 24 October, by the United Goans Party (UGP).[11]

Election Schedule

Event Date[12]
Last Date for filing Nominations 11 November 1963
Date for scrutiny of nominations 13 November 1963
Last date for withdrawal of candidatures 16 November 1963
Date of poll 9 December 1963
Date before which the election shall be completed 11 December 1963

Results

PartyVotes%Seats
Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party100,11740.1314
United Goans Party74,08129.6912
Indian National Congress43,10017.271
Frente Popular4,5481.820
Independents[a]27,64811.083
Total249,494100.0030
Valid votes249,49495.82
Invalid/blank votes10,8784.18
Total votes260,372100.00
Source: [5][13][14]
  1. ^ Independents included two candidates of the Praja Socialist Party

Elected Members

# Constituency Member[15] Party
1 Pernem Kashinath Shetgaonkar Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party
2 Mandrem Vijay Kamulkar Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party
3 Siolim Pandurang Purushottam Shirodkar Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party
4 Calangute John D'Souza United Goans Party
5 Aldona Orlando Sequeira Lobo United Goans Party
6 Mapusa Raghunath Tople Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party
7 Tivim Shambu Palienkar Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party
8 Bicholim Kusmakar Kadkade Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party
9 Pale A. K. S. Usgaonkar Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party
10 Sattari Jaisingrao Rane Praja Socialist Party
11 Panaji Jack Sequeira United Goans Party
12 Santa Cruz Joaquim L. Araujo United Goans Party
13 Santo Andre Teotonio Pereira United Goans Party
14 Sant Estevam Dattaram Chopdekar Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party
15 Marcaim Vasant Velingkar[a] Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party
16 Ponda Gajanan Raikar Praja Socialist Party
17 Siroda Pundalik Naik Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party
18 Sanguem Tony Fernandes Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party
19 Canacona Ganba Desai Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party
20 Quepem Dattaram Desai Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party
21 Curchorem Vittal Karmali United Goans Party
22 Cuncolim Sebastiao Mazarelo United Goans Party
23 Benaulim Maurilio Furtado United Goans Party
24 Navelim Alvaro de Loyola Furtado United Goans Party
25 Margao Vasudeo Narayan Sarmalkar United Goans Party
26 Curtorim Enio Pimenta United Goans Party
27 Cortalim Luis Proto Barbosa United Goans Party
28 Marmagoa Urminda Mascarenhas United Goans Party
29 Daman Kalidas Patel Indian National Congress
30 Diu Mamdali Jiwani Independent
  1. ^ Resigned for Dayanand Bandodkar

Aftermath

On 20 December 1963, Dayanand Bandodkar was sworn in as Chief Minister. His cabinet included only two other ministers, Vitthal Subrai and Tony Fernandes.[16] Jack de Sequeira, of the UGP, was the first Leader of the Opposition[17] and Pandurang Purushottam Shirodkar was the first Speaker of the Assembly.[18]

Since the party in government, the MGP, was in favour of merging the territory with Maharashtra, they precipitated the issue. This led to the 1967 Goa status referendum,[19] where the voters rejected the merger and instead opted to remain a Union Territory.[20]

Bypolls

Year Constituency Reason for by-poll Winning candidate Party
1964 Marcaim Resignation of V.C. Velingker Dayanand Bandodkar Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party
Source:ECI[21]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Goa turnout high in first election; Voting Quiet Despite Issue Over Joining Indian State". New York Times. 9 December 1963. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  2. ^ "Article 2 - Goa After Liberation". www.goavidhansabha.gov.in. Retrieved 28 December 2021. The 1st General election of liberated Goa, Daman and Diu, was held on 09/12/1963 ... Late Shri Dayanand Bandodkar became the first Chief Minister of Independent Goa, Daman and Diu.
  3. ^ "Chief Ministers of Goa". Department of Information and Publicity, Government of Goa, India. Archived from the original on 24 August 2003.
  4. ^ "Pro-Merger Party Leads in Goa Vote". New York Times. 11 December 1963. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Assembly Election - 1963" (PDF). Chief Election Commissioner of Goa. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 August 2022. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  6. ^ Alexandre Moniz Barbosa (12 December 2021). "Herald: Goa 1961 – 2021 Reviewing and recovering". O Heraldo. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  7. ^ "Government of Union Territories Act, 1963" (PDF). 10 May 1963. Retrieved 30 December 2021. There shall be a Legislative Assembly for each Union territory ... The total number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of [the Union territory] to be filled by persons chosen by direct election shall be thirty.
  8. ^ P. J. Fernandes (19 August 1963). "Office of the Chief Electoral Officer - Notification AJSM/IEIRO /63/1185913" (PDF). p. 4. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  9. ^ J. L. Kapur (19 August 1963). "Delimitation Commission - Final Order No. 18" (PDF). Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  10. ^ Prakash Narain (3 October 1963). "Notification - 56/1/63(2)" (PDF). Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  11. ^ Prakash Narain (24 October 1963). "Notification - No. 56/1/63 (2)" (PDF). Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  12. ^ A. F. Couto, Chief Electoral Officer (1 September 1964). "Election Commission - Notification No. 82/3/64" (PDF). Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  13. ^ Esteves, Sarto (1966). Goa and its future.
  14. ^ Maria Do Ceu Rodrigues (1996). Opinion Poll in Goa - An evaluation of the method to settle the controversy (PDF) (Thesis). Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  15. ^ "MLAs - First Legislative Assembly Of Goa, Daman & Diu". www.goavidhansabha.gov.in. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  16. ^ M.R. Sachdev (20 December 1963). "Government of Goa, Daman and Diu - Administrator's Secretariat - Notification No. 1/ADM/63" (PDF). Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  17. ^ "MLA Bio - Sequeira, Dr. Jack De, Janata" (PDF). www.goavidhansabha.gov.in. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  18. ^ Gauree Malkarnekar (13 November 2016). "Goa was his life, but Angola was his love". Times of India. TNN. Retrieved 30 December 2021. By 1963, he was a prominent founding member of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, which formed liberated Goa's first elected government, where Shirodkar served as the speaker.
  19. ^ R.N. Sakshena (2003). Goa: Into the Mainstream. Abhinav Publications. ISBN 9788170170051. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  20. ^ "Goa: But Not Gone". Time. 27 January 1967. Archived from the original on 15 December 2008. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  21. ^ "Details of Assembly By- Elections since 1952 (Year-Wise)". Election Commission of India. Retrieved 22 December 2021.