Presiding officers fails to turn for Seraulim dy sarpanch poll
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, DEC 7
In an unprecedented development, election to fill up the vacant post of deputy sarpanch of Seraulim Panchayat was scuttled on Tuesday after the Presiding Officer drafted to conduct the polls by the Director of Panchayats played truant.
One of the aspirants for the coveted post, Polly D’Cruz was quick to allege that the presiding officer Deepak Chari did not turn up due to political pressure.
The incident occurred this morning when the panch members assembled at the panchayat ghar as per the meeting convened by the Director of Panchayats to fill up the vacant post.
The election was scheduled at 11 am, but there was no sign of the Presiding Officer for the meeting. After waiting for 15 minutes, one of the Panch member called up the Salcete Block Development Officer, and it was only later that realization dawned that the Presiding officer skipped the meeting on grounds that he fell sick.
Panch member Polly said the elections were scuttled by the Presiding Officer upon pressure from the political masters. “I had a majority on my side. That’s the reason why the Presiding officer failed to turn up for the meeting”, he added.
When contacted, Salcete BDO Uday Prabhudessai said that he was in Panjim this morning to attend the meeting convened by the Director of Panchayats on e-services to be implemented in the Panchayats from December 19.
“The incident was brought to my notice when I was in Panjim. I have been informed that the Presiding officer dispatched a note after he fell sick”, he said.
When questioned why no replacement was made by the BDO office if Deepak had sent a sick note, Prabhudesai said there was no one in the BDO office to take such a decision. “If I was there in the office, I would have immediately done the replacement”, he said, adding that he would send a detailed report to the Director of Panchayats to fix a fresh date to hold the polls for the post of deputy Sarpanch.
The election for the post of deputy Sarpanch was necessitated after the incumbent Joaquim Dias quit office on October 24 citing personal reasons. Many an eye brow is also raised why the Director of Panchayat took a long time to call a meeting of the Panchayat to hold the election to the vacant post.
