The Bharatiya Janata Party increased its tally from 4 to 10 while the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak party (MGP) was the biggest loser, slipping from 12 seats to just four. The United Goan Democratic Party (UGDP) and Goa Rajiv Congress (GRC), a splinter group of Congress, won two seats each.

The Congress, which had failed to get absolute majority in the '94 elections when it had secured just 18 seats, this time won a majority of its seats (12) from its traditional stronghold of South Goa dominated by Catholic Christians.

However, the celebrations within the Congress camp could be short-lived as five of its own stalwarts -- Pratapsinh Rane, Ravi Naik, Luzinho Faleiro, Dayanand Narvekar and Fransisco Sardinha -- havealmost spoilt the party by staking claim for the top job.

Narvekar, who brought down the governments of Pratapsinh Rane and Wilfred D'Souza last year, today filed the first salvo. ``As a senior Congressman, I should be made the chief minister,'' Narvekar told reporters in Panaji. Similar sentiments were expressed by the other aspirants in different parts of the state.

Congress state unit president, Luzinho Faleiro, who won from Navelim constituency with a handsome margin, told reporters ``I was asked to lead the party in the elections and with the help of my partymen and the people, the Congress has received a decisive mandate to form the government on its own''.