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Goa's municipalities to go to polls on March 20 with eyes on Panaji
The elections will nonetheless be a test of popularity for the local political strongmen in the various towns of Goa.
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The Goa State Election Commission has announced voting to elect new municipal bodies in Goa - eleven municipal councils and the Corporation of the city of Panaji, the state capital - will be held on March 20 with the results being declared two days later on March 22.
The elections, which are not held on party lines, will nonetheless be a test of popularity for the local political strongmen in the various towns of Goa who will field their own sets of candidates to prove their popularity ahead of the next year’s general assembly elections.
“Voting to eleven Municipal Councils, the Corporation of the City of Panaji, the by elections to village panchayats and zilla panchayats where there are vacancies will be held on March 20 between 8 am and 5 pm. The final hour of voting will be reserved for those who are Covid-19 positive and those under isolation,” State Election Commissioner Choka Ram Garg said.
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The elections will see nearly 3-lakh voters cast their votes in the various municipal councils. The focus, however, will be on the State capital Panaji which has seen a merger of the BJP and Congress camps after MLA Atanasio “Babush” Monserrate, who was elected on a Congress ticket, jumped ship along with ten others to the BJP. The party has now announced fielding a ‘joint’ panel comprising councillors from both erstwhile camps. But dissidence remains.
“So the culture of promoting immediate kin while currently holding public office has crept into Panaji,” Utpal Parrikar, the son of former Union defence minister and four-time Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, tweeted.
Parrikar was referring to Monserrate holding sway over the BJP state party leadership and announcing that his son Rohit Monserrate will be one among the candidates he was fielding in the elections.
The elections will also be a test for Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant for whom the results of the Sankhali Municipal Council, which falls under the constituency he represents, will be crucial as well as for opposition leaders Digambar Kamat and Vijai Sardesai who will be eager to win the Margao Municipal Council.
Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court at Goa, which is hearing a bunch of petitions challenging the reservation of wards in the various municipalities, is expected to pass its order on Tuesday.
