With the Code of Conduct in place, the government has decided to seek the views of the State Election Commission on whether the process can be notified while the code of conduct is on.
Speaking to Herald, Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for TCP Francis D’Souza said he would have to seek the opinion of State Election Commission on the matter. “I don’t feel the Election Commission will have any problem as the decision is not new and it is part of government functioning. Still I will seek their opinion,” D’Souza said. The code of conduct for the election will end on October 28.
The file pertaining to keeping the plan open for suggestions and objections is pending before Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar for over week. Parsekar’s busy schedule, including the induction of a new minister, has kept the RP issue pending. The government had initially announced it would open the plan before Ganesh Chaturthi.
“The file is pending before the chief minister for the last ten days. He was also very busy with other important works. I have to discuss it with him and get it cleared,” D’Souza said.
The government intends to settle the controversies surrounding the RP by notifying the plan by December 2015 end. D’Souza said that suggestions and objections received nearly 3500 and are outdated; and that there is every possibility that people would like to place fresh objections and suggestions to the plan, which would be taken into account before the plan is notified.
TCP had earlier moved a file with three options on RP’s finalization to scrap it, to continue after implementing corrections from objections and suggestions received, or to continue with the plan in its present form.
As per information available under RTI, 166 panchayats have submitted their inputs for correction of the finally notified RP21, while 15 panchayats have demanded that the plan be scrapped.
