THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2024
Abel Barreto
Canacona: The great political circus called Canacona municipality election will be on show once the filing of nomination starts from Thursday.
Most of the wards represented by the extra life-size local politicians are reserved in different categories in the latest delimitation process.
This is going to lead to, CMC getting most of the new faces. But it looks like the old guard is ready to field their handpicked candidates to keep control over the voters of those wards and the council too.
The CMC after the delimitation process has 12 wards from previous 10, Delem-2 and Devabagh are the newly created wards.
Nagercem, Chaudi, Delem-1, Delem-2 (Mastimol), Kindlem, Ponsulem, Tarir, Patnem, Bhagatwada, Palolem-1, Devabag and Palolem-2 are the 12 wards in chronological order, while Chaudi is the most important ward which is the administrative capital of Canacona taluka, Palolem-1 and 2, Patnem and Rajbagh gain importance as they host the most adorable beaches in South Goa.
Here we look at Nagercem, Chaudi, Delem 1 and Delem 2.
Nagarcem ward
This ward was earlier represented by Hemant Naikgaonkar who had won against former chairperson Rajendra Desai by a margin of 100 votes polling a total of 300 votes, while Ajay Bhagat also a former chairperson who had switched to Nagercem ward after his ward became a reserved ward had polled 150 votes.
The likely fight this time is between Hemant Naikgaonkar and former chairperson Ranganath Naikgaonkar.
This ward has a total of 828 voters out of which male voters are 396 while female voters are 432.
Chaudi
Chaudi which was reserved last time for women was represented by Chaya Soiru Komarpant, she had won against Perpetuo Jaques by a thin margin.
Komarpant also became the chairperson of CMC as per the understanding of rotating the chairpersons post amongst the women councillor’s of ruling group as the post was reserved for women.
The ward is this time a general category ward and it’s likely to be a three cornered fight between ex councilor Hemant Gracias, ex councilor from Kindlem ward and ex chairperson Ramakant Naikgaonkar and Levino Gracias.
Issues: No Parking, no water & a crumbling fish market
The main issues in this ward are insufficient parking spaces, congestion on the roads, water supply, unhygienic and crumbling fish market, cobwebs of electricity wires and cables of TV and internet dangling from some of the poles on the roadside.
Once the eight hundred seater under construction Ravindra Bhavan gets commissioned than the town will face more acute shortage of parking space locals feel.
Wish list: Jogging park, swimming pool, proper pedestrian ways by the roadsides and a multi purpose sports ground
The long standing demand for a walking track cum jogging park, swimming pool, proper pedestrian ways by the roadsides and a multi purpose sports ground are some of the aspirations of the residents of Chaudi which have remained unfulfilled.
This ward has a total of 862 voters, 416 male and 446 female voters.
Delem-1
Ladies only
This is carved out from the erstwhile Mastimol ward is now reserved for women. the outgoing councilor Kishore Shet who had won against Dhiraj Desai by a thin difference of 19 votes. His wife Jayashri Shet is likely to be in the fray this time
Wishlist: Play-ground, 24 hour water supply and internet connectivity
This ward is on the outskirts of Chaudi town and doesn't boast of any development except concrete drain. Many residents, speaking to Herald said that for everything they have to run to Chaudi and they expect development in their ward on a model that will work by keeping the needs of the ward and its residents in mind.
Proper crematorium, play-ground, recreational facilities, walking track, centre for senior citizens, 24 hour water supply upto the overhead water tanks and good cellular connectivity is what the residents of this ward are dreaming of informed most of the voters from here.
Like most of the wards this ward also has more female voters than male (male 366 and female 407).
Delem-2 ( In affect, Mastomol)
Mastimol is a political pot boiler and has three strong candidates vying for the honours of representing the ward.
Issues: More than issues, it’s all about tapping the migrant vote bank
The ward has many educational institutions, police station and a court building.
Roads are good with proper drains but since some part of the ward is at a higher level, water supplied through pipeline doesn't reach with sufficient pressure.
The sizeable migrant voters living mostly in the houses built on the land acquired under 20 point program behind ITI building is a captive vote bank on each contestant’s agenda
Mastimol has 397 female and 405 male voters.
