PERNEM: For a change, voters in Pernem have chosen young, educated and new faces to represent them in their respective panchayats. All the panchayats in the taluka have at least one young and first-time panch member.
Two first-time candidates also made their move into the panchayats by a draw of lots. In Mandrem, there was a tie between Adv Kishore Shetmandrekar, a former journalist and Rajesh Mandrekar, a new entrant. After the draw, Rajesh was declared elected. Both of them had secured 189 votes.
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Similarly, in ward 6 of Querim panchayat, the tie was between Dharti Sidharth Nagoji and Reshma Ramchandra Sawal. After the draw of lots, Dharti Nagoji was declared the winner. Both had secured 123 votes. It was her first attempt.
Further in Morjim and Mandrem, wives of former panch members managed to obtain entry into the panchayat, including the wife of former panch member of Mandrem Michelle Sheron Amroj Fernandes, while Surekha Amit Shetgaonkar, wife of former Sarpanch Amit Shetgaonkar won the seat by defeating her sister-in-law Anu Shetgaonkar with the highest number of votes, at 593.
The two-time sarpanch of Morjim Vaishali Shetgaonkar was defeated by Swapnil Shetgaonkar, who became a giant killer with a lead of 172 votes. He is the nephew of Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Tendulkar. Other ex-sarpanchas including Ekta Chodankar, Tarika Tari, Raghoba Gawde and Rajvi Sawant, Pandhari Arolkar and Pramila Desai were also shown the door by voters.
