panaji the municipal polls was seen as a test of strength for both the bjp and the congress especially coming just about oneandahalf years before the assembly polls and serve as an indicator of things to come in the future the results did not give a clear victory or defeat to either but the bjp seemed to have the upper handthe bjpsupported panels clinched victory in six of the 11 municipal councils that went to polls including the prestigeous mapusa and mormugao bodies but the party received a drubbing in salcete both in margao and cuncolim the polls also ended in a deadlock in canacona with the two fronts locked with five seats each panels floated by nonbjp groups won four civic bodies the bjpsupported panels won in pernem mapusa bicholim mormugao sanguem and curchoremcacora while others won in cuncolim quepem valpoi and margao later in the evening bjp leaders announced that the partybacked panels were forming the councils in eight civic bodies including cuncolim and canacona despite the claims of the bjp that it is forming a council cuncolim remained deadlockedafter counting of votes polled in the sunday elections the bjpbacked panels managed to overcome the perceived negative impact on some key issues on the electorate the party received a setback in margao and canaconathe margao civic alliance supported by former chief minister digambar kamat and independent mla vijai sardesai won 17 of the 25 seats the fatorda mlas panel swept the polls in the towns suburb winning 11 of the 12 seats exposing former bjp mla damodar damu naiks weakening hold over the electorate in canacona the panel backed by sports minister and local mla ramesh tawadkar bagged five seats while the rival panel supported by former mla vijai pai khot claimed the other five seats resulting in a stalemate in cuncolim too it was a setback for bjp mla rajan naik as only two candidates supported by him won the elections while five candidates of john monteirobacked panel and four of former congress mla joaquim alemaobacked panel and one independent emerged victorious later in the evening both the bjpbacked panel and the alemaobacked panel were trying to form the council taking support from the john monteirobacked panel apart from the independent monteiro told toi that he will not support either of the efforts to form the council there is thus a stalemate in cuncolim mapusa development panel the group backed by deputy chief minister and urban development minister francis dsouza in mapusa municipal council coasted to victory in 15 of 20 wards several former chairpersons including rupa bhakta and subhash kalangutkar bit the dust while several new faces surfaced and dsouzas son joshua was also one of the winners in mormugao 14 candidates backed by power minister milind naik and vasco mla carlos almeida won eight and six seats respectively out of 25 at stake in pernem seven candidates backed by bjp won in the 10ward council while in curchoremcacora 12 of the 14 victorious candidates announced