Goa: Draft delimitation proposals open for public inputs till March 2

MARGAO: The draft delimitation proposals for village panchayats prepared by the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) will be kept open for public suggestions, modifications and corrections from February 24 to March 2 in the office of the respective EROs.
Ahead of the panchayat elections that will be likely held in May, the Goa State Election Commission (SEC) has initiated the process for the delimitation of 186 village panchayat areas into wards.
Mamlatdars and Jt mamlatdars have been appointed as EROs, while awal karkuns (head clerks) have been appointed as assistant EROs to carry out the task.
The SEC, which is finalising the delimitation of wards for the panchayat election for the first time, had initiated the process in December 2021.
Earlier, the process was carried out by the state government. However, as per the recent amendment to Section 7 of the Goa Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, the task of dividing the panchayat area into wards and reservation of seats has been assigned to the commission in consultation with the government.
This has been done to avoid allegations of political interference in the process and to ensure that the election is held in a free and fair manner.
The EROs and AEROs have utilised the draft electoral roll of the Goa legislative assembly published on November 1, 2021 for the purpose.