Twenty-three candidates were in the fray to the elections to the five-member Harvalem Panchayat. The counting was taken up in the office of the Bicholim Mamlatdar, where hundreds of supporters were present.
In ward 1, Sagar Malik who bagged 207 votes defeated his nearest rival Nandu Gawas who polled 82 votes. In ward 2, which was reserved for women, Sharada Malik polled 133 votes, while Rupali Malik and Navida Pirankar got 94 and 71 votes respectively.
Mahesh Divekar who polled 72 votes was declared elected from ward 3, where eight candidates were in the fray. Guruprasad Naik was declared elected with 203 votes from ward 4 defeating Premavati Pednekar. Priya Thakur was elected from ward 5 as she polled 92 votes.
Speaking to media, Sanquelim MLA Dr Pramod Sawant said all the elected candidates belong to the BJP. “All the elected members belong to BJP and the BJP panel will form the panchayat. BJP gave them panchayat status, which was denied to the villagers for all these years,” said Dr Sawant.
Former Congress MLA Pratap Gawas claimed that four panchas belong to the party and they will form the panchayat.
Bicholim Mamlatdar Gurudas Desai was the returning officer, while Mapusa Deputy Collector Sabaji Shetye was the observer for Harvalem Panchayat elections.
