The lower level below the dais of the Townhall was set for the councillors to come in for the no-confidence. The vote-out notice sent to all the councillors and MLAs attached to the council was 11am.
Y B Tawde, Additional Collector was the presiding officer while Chief Officer, S L Naveen (IAS) convened the meeting. Tawde asked for a show of hands to figure how the council should decide the no-confidence – through vote of hands or a secret ballot. The councillors took a unanimous decision led by former chairpersons Sushila Naik and Arthur D’Silva for show of hands because they both insisted it should be a transparent decision.
Once decided, he read the orders and the motion was placed and 14 hands sprung up to vote out Rebello.
Arthur D’Silva, Carmina Rodrigues, Raju Nayak, Sadanand Naik, Babita Naik, Tito Cardozo, Bindya Naik, Doris Texeira, Rosy Pereira, Dayanand Deulkar, Dhananjay Mayenkar, Vinay Shirodkar and Damu Shirodkar voted out the Chairperson while Sangeeta abstained from voting.
The process started with Rebello making a small farewell speech thanking the council and municipal staff for help and support in his tenure.
Mayenkar becomes the acting chairperson for seven days following Rebello’s ouster.
“Can’t understand why the same councillors who vehemently supported Mr. Gonzaco Rebello against the Chief Officer of Margao Municipal Council chose to shunt him out of office today,” was what Rajeev Gomes posted on Facebook. Gomes was an activist that led the rebellion along with Nelson Mascarenhas and Croydon Medeira opposing the chairperson and his council.
