Antonio Caetano "Tony" Fernandes of the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

represents Santa Cruz in the

Goa Legislative Assembly The Goa Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the state of Goa in India. The Assembly meets at the Goa State Legislative Assembly Complex in Porvorim, Bardez. The Eighth Goa Legislative Assembly consists of 40 members. The asse ...

. He lives in Segundo Bairro,

Santa Cruz, Goa Santa Cruz, it’s two villages are (Calapor '' Western side of Old Hwy & Cujira '' Eastern side of Old Hwy North of Bambolim, is a neighborhood located next to the city of Panaji, capital of the Indian state of Goa. It is completely locate ...

. He won the elections on an

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

ticket in 2017. He replaced incumbent MLA Atanasio Monserrate after he was expelled from the Indian National Congress party in 2015 for anti-party activities. He was one of the ten members of Indian National Congress who joined Bharatiya Janata Party in July 2019.In fresh jolt to Congress in Goa, 10 party legislators switch to BJP
/ref>

Political career

In 2017, Antonio Caetano Fernandes, was the preferred candidate for Indian National Congress, following the expulsion of Atanasio Monserrate in 2015. Antonio Fernandes won the Santa Cruz Assembly seat by defeating Rodolfo Fernandes who ran as an Independent. Rodolfo Fernandes' mother, late former Santa Cruz MLA Victoria Fernandes, held this seat as INC candidate. Antonio won this seat with 6202 votes. Hemant Golatkar and Rodolfo Fernandes, procured 5560 and 5262 votes respectively of the 22,215 total votes. In 2022, Antonio Fernandes, ran for the second time but now as BJP candidate. The political calculus did not reward him in 2022. Antonio Fernandes lost to Rodolfo Fernandes and is attributed to have switched to BJP party mid stream. Antonio procured 6377 votes while Rodolfo procured 8841 votes.

Personal life

Antonio Caetano Fernandes is the son of Jose Fernandes. He was born and lives in Segundo Bairo, Santa Cruz, Goa. He attended Santa Cruz High School and completed Xth standard. Antonio is married to Indira Fernandes. He is a businessman with a focus in real estate.

References

Living people Former members of Indian National Congress from Goa People from South Goa district Goa MLAs 2017–2022 Year of birth missing (living people) Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Goa {{Goa-BJP-politician-stub