Congress Finalizes Candidate for Fonda By-Election; BJP Set to Announce Ritesh Naik's Ticket

Lokmat News Network, Panaji: Congress has finalized the name of Dr. Ketan Bhatikar for the Fonda assembly by-election and sent it to Delhi. On the other hand, it has been reported that the BJP has almost confirmed the ticket of Late Ravi Naik's son Ritesh. This will make the by-election Bhatikar vs Ritesh. The Central Election Committee of the Congress is meeting today, Tuesday. The only name of Bhatikar has been sent from Goa. Vishwanath Dalvi's name has been dropped in the BJP group and Ritesh's candidature has been confirmed. The BJP candidate can be announced in two days. When contacted by Lokmat, Congress state president Amit Patkar said that Bhatikar's only name has been sent. Naik will be decided in the meeting in Delhi today and will be announced from there. Rajesh Verenkar is also interested in the ticket. When asked about this, Patkar said that after signing Bhatikar's name, Dr. Ravi Bhati had doubts about whether he would support Verenkar in the 2022 assembly election.