The reservation of all the Councils of the Goan Municipalities is now out. Several councillors have now been compelled to leave their ward and test their luck by contesting in other wards. The wards of Margao, Quepem and Curchorem have been reserved and now the Chairpersons will be contesting from other wards. However, the ward of the Sanguem Chairperson has been reserved for men hence he won’t have to work as hard as his colleagues in Curchorem, Quepem and Margao.
After 2 weeks of dilly dallying on the reservations, they were finally declared on Thursday and the movements for election caught speed in Margao and Quepem. Several opposition councillors were left shell-shocked after the reservations almost uprooted them from their seats and wards. Wards of many of the opposition councillors have been reserved to unmatch the existing councillors which have increased tensions for many of them.
The Margao Chairperson Arthur D’Silva was elected from Ward Number 1 which is in Agali, last time round. Arthur has enjoyed the Chairpersons seat thrice in his tenure and his relations with former Chief Minister, Digambar Kamat have recently come to light during the Louis Berger bribery case. According to the reservations, which have been publicised on Thursday the ward number 1 of Arthur has been reserved for women and Arthur has decided to contest from ward 14. Ward 14 comes under Margao constituency and Damodar Shirodkar is the sitting councillor in this ward.
Quepem Chairperson Dayesh Naik is considered to be the strongest worker of Quepem MLA, Babu Kavlekar. Instead of a BJP Government in the State, the Chairperson Dayesh has retained his seat and the Municipality of Quepem with Congress for more that 3 years by keeping 5 councillors bound together. Dayesh Naik’s Ward number 1 has been reserved for OBC women and now he has decided to contest from Ward 2 in Amona. Maria Cardozo is the sitting councillor of ward 2.
Sanguem Municipal Chairperson is known to be a strong BJP supporter. Deepak Marathe the Chairperson had taken charge just a year ago. He has not at all been affected by the reservations. He will contest the elections from the same ward he had contested last time around.
Curchorem Municipality is a strong supporter of the BJP and Vanita Naik, who is the wife of former Chairperson of Curchorem, Maruti Naik is presently leading the Municipality. Vanita has been the Councillor of Ward 7 which has been now reserved for OBC men. Maruti Naik has decided to contest from ward 7 and his wife and sitting Chairperson, Vanita will now contest from newly formed ward 14.
All the chairpersons have confirmed the following information and the other councillors have now already started planning plotting to contest the election.
