Team Herald
MARGAO: Reservation of constituencies for South Goa Zilla Parishad elections has ruffled quite a few feathers with some long-serving ZP members openly accusing the present government of manipulation by reserving select constituencies where sitting representatives were sure to win.
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Former South Goa ZP chairperson Nelly Rodrigues who has been elected at all the four elections held so far and was looking forward to being elected for the fifth time saw her dream crumbling as Colva, which she represents, has been reserved for Other Backward Classes (OBC).
Similar is the case with Benaulim, where Maria da Luz Rebello was looking forward to getting elected for the fourth term as Benaulim too has been reserved for OBC.
“I cannot contest as my constituency is reserved for OBC and this is very obviously done by the present government to make sure that I am not in the fray,” said Maria.
Nelly also blamed the BJP for manipulating the reservation and alleged that constituencies where sitting ZP members were sure to win have been reserved to make sure that the sitting representative cannot contest.
“It is not only that Colva and Benaulim have been targeted there are others too,” she said.
That appears to be true as Curtorim constituency from where Moreno Rebello was elected to the ZP in 2017. He is now shocked that Curtorim has been reserved for women. Similarly, Nuvem constituency where Reuben Costa was elected to the ZP in 2017 has also been reserved for women.
The scheme is alleged to be further revealed considering that Raia has been kept in the general category apparently to dissuade aspirant Domnic Gaonkar of the ST community from contesting, as Domnic is supposed to be joining Congress shortly. Incidentally, Domnic’s wife Fatima is currently the ZP member from Raia.
Ironically, Cuncolim MLA Clafasio Dias who recently joined the BJP has also been taken by surprise as the Guirdolim ZP constituency has been reserved for women even though the MLA had already promoted someone else as the next ZP candidate.
Incidentally, this is the third time that Guirdolim has been reserved for women. In 2010, when it was first reserved for women, wife of present MLA Clafasio namely Seema Dias was elected from Guirdolim. Later, as it was reserved for ST women in 2015, Minaxi Gaonkar got elected and this will be the third time it is being reserved for women again.
Clafasio’s PA Shailesh Jotkar was supposed to be his candidate but now that the constituency is reserved for women, there is speculation that Shailesh’s wife may be the candidate.
