Team Herald
VASCO: The ward reservations list for the Mormugao municipal elections has shocked many aspiring candidates from Vasco. They have claimed that the reservations are biased and that the State administration had used it to target their opponents.
Councillor and former chairperson Manesh Arolkar claimed that “frustrated” leaders had targeted him for political gains. He said, “We are not fools. It is an open secret that most of the wards had been reserved with ulterior motives, such as targeting candidates who could be a threat to the MLAs in the assembly elections; secondly, to promote and facilitate his supporters to win elections.”
Arolkar plans to contest the municipal elections from ward 16 and is confident of getting an MGP ticket to contest the Assembly elections from Vasco constituency.
Councillor Babu Nanoskar also felt he had been targeted. He stated, “The way wards in Dabolim constituency have been reserved shows that it was done to target only me. Initially, I wanted to contest from ward 23, where I had done a lot of development. However, that ward is now reserved for SC; of 3,000-odd voters, this ward actually has only around 100 SC voters.”
Even leaders from Mormugao constituency have criticised the State administration for the “biased” reservations. Congress leader Sankalp Amonkar, who had contested on a Congress ticket and floated his panel for the municipal elections, stated, “We can’t expect anything from this government. We knew that they would resort to such tricks. The way wards have been reserved shows nothing but the BJP government’s frustration.”
He continued, “Last time, wards 3 and 7 were reserved for SC/ST candidates considering Mormugao constituency had over 3,000 SC/ST voters. Many people from these communities were aspiring to become leaders, but they now have to face disappointment. Similarly, wards 8 and 9 consist of many fishermen belonging to the OBC, but they have been declared general wards, which is unfair.”
Councillor Nitin Chopdekar has also lost his ward due to reservations.
