Team Herald
PANJIM: (BJP on Thursday announced the list of 18 candidates including 12 new faces for the upcoming Zilla Panchayat (ZP) polls.
The second batch of candidates will be announced soon thereafter, said BJP President Sadanand Shet Tanavde, while addressing a press conference.
Harmal- Anant Madhukar Gadekar, Morjim – Dhananjay Shetgaonkar, Dhargal – Manohar Dhargalkar, Torse – Seema Rama Khadpe, Siolim – Sanisha Toraskar, Aldona – Manisha Mahesh Naik, Anjuna – Niharika Narayan Mandrekar, Calangute – Dattaprasad Dabholkar, Karapur-Sarvan—Mahesh Anant Sawant, Mayem – Shankar Anant Chodankar, Pale – Gopal Mahadev Surlkar, Honda – Sagun Sitaram Wadkar, Keri – Devyani Devidas Gawas, Nagargao – Rajeshri Shanu Kale, Usgao-Ganje—Umakant Gaude, Davorlim – Ulhas Tuyekar, Barce –Khushali Velip, Khola – Shanu Velip are the names in the first batch.
The names were announced, nearly six days after a consultation process with the party MLAs and the mandal core committees were held under Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Tanavde. The party had said it will announce the names in three phases, with the second and third lists to be declared soon.
BJP has also refuted charges by the Opposition over manipulation in reservations. Congress had recently alleged that the government had rigged the reservation system to ensure that constituencies where it holds a strong base do not have winnable candidates.
On the other hand, BJP said all their candidates are strong and the party will win with a clear majority.