Team Herald

PONDA: Ponda Municipal Council Chairman Pradeep Naik was voted out on Tuesday. When the no confidence motion was put to vote, 10 councillors voted in its favour and none against.

Mormugao Municipal Council Chief Officer Gaurish Shankawalkar was the presiding officer and he was assisted by PMC Chief Officer Vishal Kundaikar. 

Out of the 15 councillors, only 10 councillors attended the meeting in which the no confidence motion was passed by show of hands. Pradeep Naik preferred not to attend the meeting.

In the 15-member council, MGP has seven councillors, while BJP has five and Congress three.

Those who voted in favour of the motion are Chandrakala Naik, Venktesh Naik, Archana Dangui, Amina Naik, Seema Fernandis, Geetali Talavlikar, Shantaram Kolvekar, William Aguiar and Anand Naik.  

Speaking after the no trust vote, Councillor Venktesh said that there was no politics in voting out Pradeep. He said that like-minded councillors came together against Pradeep as he was not taking them into confidence while carrying out the developmental works.

However, Pradeep said that some councillors with vested interest and to hide the illegalities committed by them took the initiative to vote him out. 

He also claimed that some local MGP leaders, with vested interest, helped the councillors to topple the MGP-led council.

With the dethroning of Pradeep, the MGP has lost its hold over the Ponda Municipality. This is a cascading effect of MGP leader Sudin Dhavalikar losing power as PWD minister few months ago.