They said this was preliminary voter turnout and the final figure may cross 80 per cent as electoral fate of 301 candidates were locked in EVMs which will be opened on March 10 for counting.
Didi said her party doesn't divide people on religious lines even if they are Hindus, Muslims or Christians.
The Association of Democratic Reforms said Goa has set a unique record, which is "unparalleled" in the history of Indian democracy.
Sawant, who took over as chief minister for the first time in March 2019, brought the BJP tantalizingly close to the simple majority mark of 21, defying pre-poll predictions of a hung assembly.
The Delhi BJP, however, rubbished the allegation and challenged AAP to name the MLAs and the people who contacted them with the offer.
In Goa, where Assembly elections are a few months away, a delegation of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders led by Lok Sabha member Saugata Roy and including former Union Minister Babul Supriyo and the party's vice president Luizinho Faleiro met Governor P S Sridharan Pillai and requested him to immediately seek resignation from the chief minister and announce investigation by an independent agency.
The Manohar Parrikar-led government was dismissed by Governor S C Jamir on Wednesday after it won a confidence vote amidst chaos and confusion over the disqualification of an independent member.
In the 2017 state assembly polls, the Congress had emerged as the single largest party by winning 17 seats.
The AAP suffered a humiliating defeat in Haryana with most of its candidates set to lose their security deposit.
Amit Shah wants to increase the party's nationwide vote share by at least 10 per cent from the 37.7 per cent it secured five years ago and ensure above 50 per cent vote share in the states where it came close to that benchmark, but couldn't cross it.
While the Aam Aadmi Party is contesting on four seats, the Congress has fielded candidates for the remaining three seats.
Holi was celebrated with pomp and splendor across India on Friday, with people soaking in the festivities by smearing 'gulaal' on each other and exchanging greetings and sweets. Homes and streets wore a colourful look as the revellers splashed colours and feasted on traditional delicacies. Public transport did not ply in the morning in most major cities while metro services started functioning from noon. As Holi coincided with the second Friday prayers during the holy Islamic month of Ramzan, security -- including increased patrolling and picketing -- was beefed up in several states. In Delhi, more than 25,000 security personnel were deployed. Police closely monitored about 300 sensitive areas with CCTV cameras and drones.
Chidambaram, who is the Congress' senior election observer for the Goa Assembly polls, also hit out at the Trinamool Congress for its barbs at the Congress for not forging an alliance with it, saying the party continued to poach Congress leaders, despite making an offer of a tie-up.
The opposition party termed the defection by eight out of its 11 MLAs in Goa only seven months after the assembly elections as the "height of betrayal and shamelessness."
Campaigning came to an end on Saturday for the single-day election in Uttarakhand and Goa, two states known for political volatility where the Bharatiya Janata Party is attempting to retain power, and for the second phase of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh on February 14.
According to sources, the Goa Congress unit has not held a single meeting after it failed to reach the majority mark of 21 in the 40-member assembly.
The Goa bench of the Bombay high court on Thursday upheld the Goa assembly speaker's order dismissing two petitions seeking the disqualification of 12 MLAs who left their respective parties and joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019.
The United States will deport 119 Indian nationals who were living in the country illegally. The individuals will arrive in Amritsar, India, on Saturday, hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted the need to combat human trafficking. This deportation follows the arrival of a US military aircraft carrying 104 illegal immigrants earlier this month. Prime Minister Modi and President Donald Trump discussed the issue of illegal immigration during their joint press conference, emphasizing the need to dismantle the "ecosystem" of human trafficking. Modi emphasized India's willingness to take back its citizens residing illegally in the US, and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri confirmed that the issue of illegal immigration was raised during the discussions, stressing the need to address the root causes of the problem. India seeks cooperation from the US to dismantle the rackets and ecosystems that facilitate illegal immigration, potentially involving collaboration between law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
The Congress on Saturday issued a show-cause notice to its leader Vijai Bhike after his statement blaming the ally Goa Forward Party for the poor performance in the last month's Goa assembly elections drew a sharp response from the latter.
Hitting out at Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar for indulging in a blame game over the MVA's defeat in the state assembly, Raut said those who don't believe in consensus and compromise have no right to be in an alliance.
Technocrat-turned-politician Manohar Parrikar is all set to become chief minister of Goa for the third time after the Bharatiya Janata Party- Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party combine lapped up 24 seats to rule the 40-member house.
BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra in a grand ceremony at Azad Maidan in Mumbai.
The swearing-in ceremony of Pramod Sawant as Goa's chief minister will be held on March 28 and prominent Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will attend the event.
Amid cross-voting, BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan on Tuesday won the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Himachal Pradesh, defeating ruling Congress' Abhishek Manu Singhvi, officials said.
Results of the Delhi assembly election are not a vindication of Prime Minister's Narendra Modi's policies but a referendum on Arvind Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party, the Congress said on Saturday as it vowed to bounce back from another whitewash.
The Bharatiya Janata Party demanded that the Centre should step in with a financial package to ease the impending crisis in Goa due to halting of the mining industry.
'We don't want hardcores like Pramod Muthalik in Goa. We vehemently oppose people who share Muthalik's tendencies. We don't need cultural watchdogs in Goa.' BJP MLA Vishnu Wagh lashes out at Goa's anti-bikini minister Sudin Dhavalikar in this exclusive interview to Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday announced Prime Minister Narendra Modi will fight again from Varanasi in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as it named 34 Union ministers in the first list of 195 candidates.
Their flight landed at the Mumbai airport around 8 pm nearly 50 minutes after it took off from Dabolim airport in Goa.
'The politics of Goa is moving around a sole entity, which is land.'
Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee has recently written to all opposition parties including the Congress, calling on everyone to come together and put up a united fight against saffron forces.
He also said that although India got independence much before Goa became free, people of the country could not enjoy at that time as they felt uneasy thinking that one part was the country was still under foreign rule.
'This is a new Congress. Let the BJP be warned.'
The culling of key state leaders and bureaucrats has given rise to distrust and uneasiness in Pramod Sawant's style of functioning, notes Aditi Phadnis.
Congress veteran P Chidambaram held a meeting with the Goa assembly poll candidates of his party and those of ally Goa Forward Party on Wednesday night, where it was decided that the alliance will name its leader immediately after the election results are out and stake claim for government formation, sources said.
A day after the name of Goa-based fashion designer Wendell Rodricks was announced for Padma Shri Award, the local Bharatiya Janata Party unit claimed that the award may legitimise homosexuality, though it also congratulated him.
Incumbents Pushkar Singh Dhami and Pramod Sawant are the clear favourites but face some opposition
Shinde had retained most of the sitting MLAs, who chose to be with him when he led the rebellion two years ago. They delivered for him on Saturday when votes for the state polls were counted.
Dominic Xavier is gobsmacked by the BJP's emphatic triumph in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.
Prime Minister Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh would be present at the function, a government spokesperson said.
