MARGAO: In all 826 candidates will be vying to get elected as panchas in 263 wards of the 33 panchayats will go to the polls in Salcete on Sunday. In 16 wards there will be no elections since the candidates have already been elected unopposed or elections have been postponed.
11 candidates in 11 wards have been declared elected unopposed including one candidate who has been elected from two separate wards and hence there will be no elections in these wards.
Elections to one ward in Chandor Cavorim where two candidates had filed their nominations are countermanded as one of them died. Incidentally the adjoining ward nos. 5 and 6 in Chandor Cavorim will not have elections as in one ward the candidate was elected unopposed and in the other elections were countermanded.
In four wards elections are postponed due to the confusion of reservation that was canceled by the High Court and reinstated by the Supreme Court. In ward No. 10 of Nuvem which is one of the wards where elections are postponed there will be no elections and similarly three wards of Betalbatim village will also not have elections.
Incidentally 4 candidates have filed their nominations in ward No. 10 of Nuvem while in each of the three wards of Betalbatim where there will be no elections, two candidates were contesting the polls.
Hence in all 23 candidates will not get any votes tomorrow therefore the number of candidates contesting is reduced to 826.
There is a complex situation awaiting in ward No. 3 of Betalbatim which is now reserved for a female OBC candidate. The only OBC candidate Leticia Maria Miranda withdrew her nomination as it was declared a general ward and the two candidates remaining in the fray at the moment do not qualify as they did not produce their caste certificate.
In Ward No. 7 that is now reserved for OBC two persons who had filed their nominations with their caste certificate withdrew after the ward was declared general leaving behind two in the fray at present of which one has produced a caste certificate. Similarly two, one with a caste certificate are in fray in ward No. 5 after another candidate who had produced caste certificate withdrew.
In ward No. 10 of Nuvem which is now reserved for OBC there are four candidates vying for the post of which two have produced caste certificate and the other two have not.
