25 Jan 2022  |   06:25am IST

Filing of nominations still to pick up pace

15 candidates submit papers on Day 2 of the process; Last date for nominations is Jan 28
Filing of nominations still to pick up pace

Team Herald


PANJIM: Filing of nominations for the February 14 State Assembly elections has been slow. On Monday 15 candidates filed their nominations for the polls, bringing the number of candidates to have filed nominations since January 21 to 18. No nominations were accepted on Saturday and Sunday being public holidays.

With just three days more for the process, as the last date is Friday and Wednesday is a public holiday due to Republic Day, filing of nominations is expected to pick up pace.

As per information provided by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), seven candidates have filed nominations on the BJP ticket, while four of MGP’s candidates have submitted their nomination papers. Additionally, five Independents and two Congress nominees have also submitted their documents before the returning officers.

On Monday, those who filed their nominations included Minister Mauvin Godinho from Dabolim (BJP) and MLA Ramakrishna Dhavalikar from Marcaim (MGP). 

BJP’s Rohan Khaunte filed his nomination from Porvorim along with his dummy candidate Neelam Khaunte. Nilkanth Halankar (BJP) has also filed from Tivim and Subhash Shirodkar (BJP) from Shiroda. 

The others who submitted their papers were MGP’s Pandurang Dhavalikar from Priol, Naresh Sawal from Bicholim and Ketan Bhatikar from Ponda.

Congress’ Sankalp Amonkar and his dummy candidate Shraddha Amonkar filed from Mormugao constituency.

The Independent candidates include BJP’s former MLA Isidore Fernandes (Canacona), Pooja Mayekar (Aldona), Vishal Naik (Cortalim) and Ajay Boyer (Curchorem).

On day one of the nomination process, Minister Nilesh Cabral (BJP - Curchorem), Govind Gaude (BJP -Priol) and Digvijit Chavan (IND - Navelim) had filed their papers.

The last date for nomination filing is January 28. Scrutiny will take place on January 29 and withdrawal of nominations, if any, will be allowed on January 31. 

The polls across 40-assembly seats are scheduled on February 14.

IDhar UDHAR

Iddhar Udhar