Team Herald

PONDA: The reservation wards for the April 29 Ponda Municipal Council (PMC) elections were finally declared on Thursday.

As per the Official Gazette, PMC will now have 15 wards of which 1, 8, 11 and 13 have been reserved for OBC. Ward 1 and 13 have been reserved for OBC women. The wards reserved for women include 1, 4, 9, 12 and 13. However, some candidates, who are unhappy with ward reservation, have threatened to file a petition in court.

The last election was held in May 2013. As per a Census, PMC jurisdiction had a population of 15975 voters of which 8055 were males and 7920 females.  As soon as the reservation of wards was declared, campaigning suddenly picked up with the political parties holding secret meetings with their workers.  Besides, there are several candidates without political background who want to contest on their own. Though the elections are not fought on party lines, MGP, Congress and BJP are leaving no stone unturned and have formed various panels. The NGOs too have joined the bandwagon with the independent candidates too keen on contesting the polls. 

Congress, which won only one seat in last election, now hopes to win all seats as this time there is no alliance between BJP and MGP. In the last election, the Ponda Citizens Committee formed by the BJP-MGP alliance bagged 13 seats of the 14 seats in the council.

However, there was split in MGP-BJP alliance over sopo and other issues. The BJP supported Ponda Citizen Committee comprising nine councillors, including Chairperson Radhika Naik, has decided to contest the election in all 15 wards. 

While on the other hand, five councillors will contest the polls under the MGP leader and PWD Minister Sudin Dhavalikar’s panel to show its strength in Ponda. 

Similarly, Congress’ Ponda MLA Ravi Naik has formed his panel Ponda Nagrik Pragatik Manch and has decided to contest all 15 seats.

Amhi Swabimani Phondekar, an NGO, will also contest by forming its panel. Besides, several independent candidates too will fight the election.