Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday proposed former career bureaucrat Elvis Gomes as party’s chief ministerial candidate for the Goa Assembly elections due next year.
The announcement came on Monday evening at Kejriwal’s first public meeting in Goa. The CM face will contest from Cuncolim in South Goa.
“Among all the AAP candidates, there is a gem: Elvis Gomes. He was in the government service for 20 years but did not make any money through wrong means. He has been an honest officer,” said Kejriwal.
“The people from all religions love him. I propose his name as the next CM (candidate) of Goa,” he added.”
After the announcement, Gomes thanked the people of Goa and said that he had accepted the decision. “This can happen only in AAP, where ordinary people like me are named the CM candidate,” the ex-bureaucrat said.
Gomes, a senior officer in Goa civil service, opted for voluntary retirement in 2016. At the time, he held the charge of the Directorate of Urban Development, and additional charge as the IG (Prisons). He was also familiar among Goans as the president of Goa Football Association.
The announcement made on the Goa Liberation Day is loaded with political symbolism. AAP has already declared 32 of its 40 candidates.
