15 MMC councillors move no-trust motion against newly-elected chief

Margao: The very next working day after getting elected as the chairperson of Margao Municipal Council, Ghanashyam Shirodkar faces a no-confidence motion. Fifteen councillors have signed the motion for Shirodkar’s ouster that was submitted to the director of municipal administration on Monday.

In the elections held on Friday, Damodar Shirodkar, Margao MLA Digambar Kamat’s nominee, was defeated 10-15, causing an acute embarrassment to Kamat as well as chief minister Pramod Sawant, who had taken personal interest in the election.

Significantly, the no-confidence motion is silent on any reason for the councillors to lose their trust in Ghanashyam. “These are the orders from the top. The decision is theirs,” was what most of the councillors said when asked about the reasons.

Reacting to the development, Ghanashyam hit out at Kamat and blamed his “personal ego” for bringing the motion against him. “Let’s see how it pans out, the battle has begun,” he said.

The chairperson said he would reply to the charges leveled against him even as he denounced the way councillors were made to swear on a coconut before lord Dambab at Zambaulim. “I got elected through a secret ballot. The president of India Droupadi Murmu got the highest number of votes through a secret ballot. In Goa she got three extra votes. Was a coconut given to the MLAs to swear then?” Ghanashyam said.

The development is reminiscent of a similar situation that occurred in April last year at the Curchorem Cacora Municipal Council (CCMC) when Curchorem MLA Nilesh Cabral’s nominee was defeated at the elections for the chairperson.

Less than 30 minutes after Balkrishna Hodarkar was declared elected, 10 councillors of the 15-member CCMC had moved a no-confidence motion against him. Cabral’s nominee, Vishwas Sawant, was defeated 7-8 by a secret ballot at the first meeting of the council.


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