MARGAO: The election for the new chairperson of the Margao Municipal Council Chairperson will be held on the November 22 at 11.30 am. The last date for filing nominations is 12 noon on November 21.
Corporation of the City of Panaji Commissoner Sanjit Rodrigues will be the presiding officer for the election.
MMC chairperson Dr Babita Angle resigned on November 8, after a group of councillors supported by the BJP and Congress opposed the move of the council to install a statue of Dr Jack de Sequeira within the town’s jurisdiction, allegedly without following the proper procedure.
Angle had declined to rollback the decision on the statue and other resolutions and resigned instead.
Later caste discussion had arisen and the Fatorda Forward Group has proposed the candidature of Pooja Naik for the post. There are no other chairperson candidates announced yet. However, sources suggest that Councillor Dorris Texeira may file her nomination and the entire opposition group would support her.
There is speculation that the Fatorda Forward group has taken two councillors into their corner, taking their present count to 13 and the opposition group is left 12 councillors. The numbers will be clear with the election result.
With hardly a year left for election to a new Council, the chairperson is going to be of critical importance as much will depend on the performance in the coming months.
