PANJIM: The Goa Pradesh Congress Committee has demanded that the Zilla Panchayat elections scheduled on March 15 be postponed and powers of reservation of wards be vested in the State Election Commission, as assured by former chief minister Manohar Parrikar in tune with the provisions of Constitution of India.
GPSCC President Girish Chodankar has made the demand pointing out to an assurance by the BJP government on the floor of the House in 2017, frequent reminders by the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj and subsequent affidavit filed by SEC before the Bombay High Court.
“The Government has deliberately sat on the amendments required to be made almost three years ago. Deciding the date of the ZP elections by the government is not only contempt of Court but also unconstitutional,” he said.
The SEC has clearly stated in its affidavit filed before the HC that all panchayat elections have to be conducted under its supervision, direction and control, from electoral roll preparation to declaration of results, as per Article 243K of the Indian Constitution. The affidavit was filed in a public interest litigation filed by Mango Foundation before the Bombay High Court at Goa challenging the powers of Directorate of Panchayats and Directorate of Municipal Administration for delimitation and reservation of wards.
Based on a draft of ‘Model Panchayat and Gram Swaraj Act’, circulated by the Union ministry in a letter dated April 27, 2009, various states including Kerala, Maharashtra, and Karnataka have already amended their respective acts.
Chodankar has also recalled that on August 2, 2017, then CM Parrikar had stated in his reply on the floor of the House that “When the file came to me, then it came to my mind that these things (limitations and reservation) cannot be done in a short period to do live in delimitation and reservation is difficult for government, to do in short period, as it leads to confusion, allegations, and someone goes to court. That is why I have clearly written on file that there is no need for the government to do it and election commission can do it.”
