PANJIM: Elections to the State Legislative Assembly are
likely to be held in December this year, with the Chief Election Office (CEO)
proposing dates between December 11 and 18 for the polls. The elections for
40-member Assembly are due in March 2017.
The recommendation of dates has been made to the Election
Commission of India (ECI). “We have submitted our proposal, the final decision
would be taken by ECI,” a senior official said. He added that elections in Goa
would be held along with the States of Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar
Pradesh.
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The official said the dates have been proposed considering
the Christmas holidays in December and school and college exams scheduled in
January and March, next year.
A total of 10,84,271 voters will be eligible to exercise
their franchise in the polls, according to the final voters list published by
the ECI.
The five-year term of the BJP-led government will end in
March 2017. The BJP-MGP alliance had won a majority in the 2012 polls, with BJP
getting a simple majority of 21 seats and MGP gaining three seats, of the 36
seats the two parties had contested. The alliance numbers were bolstered by
support from two Independents and the two Goa Vikas Party (GVP) MLAs.
