SUNDAY, MAY 19, 2024
Team Herald
NAVELIM: Voters in the Navelim village panchayat ward 2 in Salcete taluka will be casting their ballots twice on Saturday, March 20. First, for the by-elections of their ward and then for the countermanded Navelim Zilla Panchayat (ZP) elections; both necessitated due to the death of the sitting panch member and Congress ZP candidate Jose Santarita Coelho, popularly known as ‘Babush’ in the village.
Sources informed that besides the outgoing twice elected Navelim independent ZP member Edwin ‘Cipru’ Cardozo and the Aam Admi Party (AAP) candidate Mathilda D’Silva, no other individual has publicly declared their candidacy for the ZP constituency as well as the vacant panchayat ward in the Navelim village panchayat.
There were reports that the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Girish Chodankar was keen that the Goa Pradesh Mahila Congress Committee (GPMCC) president Pratima Coutinho contest as the Navelim ZP Congress candidate. However Pratima is said to have declined the offer as she is planning to contest the forthcoming Goa Assembly polls in 2022 from the Navelim constituency.
As incumbent Congress MLA Luizinho Faleiro opts to retire from the political arena, Pratima is learnt to have been requested by her supporters during her ZP election campaigning not to enter the fray for the ZP polls but to concentrate on the Navelim constituency in the forthcoming Goa Assembly polls scheduled in 2022.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that has a sizeable presence in this minority dominated constituency, too, has not announced its candidates for the ZP polls being fought on the party symbol.
Meanwhile, bye-elections will also be held for the vacant Assolna ward VII seat on March 20 following the resignation of the panch member Cedric Fernandes who migrated to UK after obtaining a Portuguese passport.
Sources in Assolna village divulged to Herald that a few individuals have staked their claim to this vacant seat. Besides, former panch member Jayant Arolkar, the present panch member Bapu Budolkar’s brother Bipendra Budolkar and Angelo Afonso have evinced their interest in contesting the forthcoming by-elections in Assolna ward VII being held on March 20.
Interestingly, the Velim Congress-turned-BJP MLA and Water Resources Minister Filipe Neri Rodrigues is yet to announce his nominee for this vacant seat in his constituency.
With the nomination process already under way from February 25 and March 4 being the last day to file nominations, the names of the contesting candidates will be soon known to their voters, say sources.
