11 wards of Taleigao p’yat to go to polls on April 28

Panaji: The elections to the 11 wards of Taleigao village panchayat will be held on April 28.

The Goa state election commission (SEC) has notified the reservation of seats for the 11 wards. Four wards have been reserved for women candidates, and one ward each for scheduled tribes (ST) and other backward classes (OBC).

“Nomination papers may be delivered by a candidate to the returning officer in his office between such hours to be fixed by the SEC,” Sanjay Goel, secretary (panchayats) said.

All the current ward members belong to the panel of Taleigao strongman and revenue minister Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate.

The directorate of panchayats has informed the SEC that the term of office of the panch members will expire on May 8.

The previous elections were held on April 28, 2019, and the term commenced on May 9, 2019, i.e. the date of appointment for the first meeting of the panchayat in terms of Section 43(1) of the Goa Panchayat Raj Act, 1994.

As per Section 237 (1) of the Goa Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, the SEC is vested with the power of superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls and conduct of elections to the panchayats or zilla panchayats.

The SEC examined the report/recommendations of the Goa State Commission for Backward Classes (GSCBC) with regard to the OBC population in Taleigao panchayat.

The SEC observed that the commission has considered the village population as per the Census 2011 as a base and collected the caste-wise empirical data for OBCs.

GSCBC has indicated the percentage of OBCs in the panchayat, the percentage of backwardness among the OBC population, percentage of backward OBCs to the total population, and recommended the number of seats to be allotted for OBCs in Taleigao panchayat in Tiswadi taluka,” state election commissioner W V Ramanamurthy said.

“The commission submitted the proposed reservation of seats for the Taleigao panchayat elections to state govt for consultation and comments. Govt returned the reservation proposal to the commission on March 27 after completing the consultation process.

The commission has notified the reservation of seats for the poll,” Ramanamurthy said.