PANJIM: A total 12 percent rise in the turnout during the recently held Zilla Panchayat (ZP) election indicates that people have accepted ZP polls on party lines, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar told the State Legislative Assembly on Thursday, defending the amendment and countering the opposition raised to the Goa Panchayat Raj (amendment) Bill, 2015.
“There was a substantial rise of 12 percent in the voting compared to last ZP elections. This itself proves that the people have accepted ZP elections on party lines,” Parsekar said adding that BJP-led coalition managed to get 25 seats of the total 50 it contested.
The House this afternoon saw an uproar after Independent legislator Vijay Sardesai accused the chief minister of indulging in horse-trading following ZP election. The ruling and opposition benches had some major battles during the passage of The Goa Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2015 on the floor of the House. Opposition MLAs also attacked the government for taking arbitrary decisions without consulting stakeholders.
“Under the guise of stability in ZPs, the state government was busy lobbying for support from the independents. Chief Minister was shown on television channels indulging in horse-trading to get BJP-led candidate inducted as Zilla panchayat chairpersons,” independent legislator Vijay Sardesai said on the floor of the House, triggering heated arguments between the ruling and the opposition.
Ruling legislators Nilesh Cabral and Subhash Faldesai along with Parsekar objected to the statement.
The opposition Congress and Independent legislators termed the move as “anti-people” and attack on the prospects of self governing bodies like ZP and panchayats. The Congress, which demanded that the bill be referred to Select Committee, sought division of votes for passing the bill. Government won the division by 23 votes as against eight and the bill was passed.
Defending the passing of bill, Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza said that government cannot hold back the Bill as the elections on party lines have already been held and passing of bill is now just a formality. “Let the opposition come to power and make the necessary changes in future,” he said.
Earlier, raising the objection to the bill, Congress legislator Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco brought to the notice of the house that Panchayats and ZPs are self governing bodies and any influence of political parties will damage the sole objective of such bodies.
