MARGAO: Of the 30 village panchayats in Salcete, 16 saw their panels win the post of Sarpanch and Deputy Sarpanch unopposed.
While most of the panchayats saw new faces taking up the coveted posts, the other major highlight was the performance of panchas who are related to local politicians.
In Nuvem village, Frida D’sa, wife of former Nuvem MLA Wilfred ‘Babashan’ D’Sa was elected Sarpanch. The veteran panch said that after 13 years, she finally moved from the opposition panel to the ruling panel of the Nuvem panchayat. “Our panel will work on completing pending works and towards making Nuvem panchayat a model for the State of Goa. I want to prioritise keeping the environment clean, not just for my voters but for the entire village and the future generation,” said Frida. While 7 of the 11 panchas voted for her, deputy Sarpanch Conceicao Colaco won by the same margin.
Elsewhere, the wife of another former Nuvem MLA Mickky Pacheco, Viola Pacheco was elected as Deputy Sarpanch, unopposed. Sarpanch Minu Fernandes was also elected unopposed but is considered to be an aide of the former MLA D’Sa. In Varca, the people’s panel emerged victorious but the daughter of former Benaulim MLA Churchill Alemao was not part of the winning panel. Both the Sarpanch Salesiana (Selu) Fernandes and Deputy Sarpanch Roland Fernandes had 6 of the 9 panchas voting in their favour.
In Orlim, a people’s panel elected Saimon Pereira and Violeta Martins unopposed as the Sarpanch and Deputy Sarpanch respectively.
In neighbouring Cavelossim, founder of Goa Seamen Association of India (GSAI) Dixon Vaz was elected unopposed as the Sarpanch and the Deputy Sarpanch Rinku Lobo was also elected unopposed. “The post of Deputy Sarpanch will be shared between Rinku and Delfina Luis. Our panchayat body will work together and prioritise tourism-related works in our village,” said Vaz who is a first-time panch member.
Veteran panch Sima Santosh Shanke was elected as the Seraulim Sarpanch securing four of the seven votes, while her deputy Leslie Dourado also won by the same margin.
A few veteran Sapanchas were also chosen to lead their respective villages such as Joseph Vaz in Rachol and Basilo Fernandes in Camurlim VP. While Vaz was a panch in the previous term, he was elected unopposed along with his Deputy Milagres Fernandes. Fernandes on the other hand was elected unopposed for the fourth time while the Deputy Raina Dias was also elected unopposed.
The village of Maina-Curtorim elected Caetano Hilaro Sarpanch and Egsina D’Souza as Deputy Sarpanch. First-time panch member Joaquim Estibeiro, who is part of the winning panel, said 9 of the 11 panchas are part of the ruling panel. Incidentally, the winning panels of Curtorim and Raia village have the backing of local MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco despite the attempts of rivals.
In Loutolim, Joana Fernandes has been elected as the Sarpanch. She contested for the first time and defeated Maria Franky Monteiro, former Sarpanch of Loutolim. There was controversy in Rumdamol Davorlim panchayat with the opposition group accusing the winning panel of being backed by a minority religious group. Mubina Bi Faniband was elected as the Sarpanch securing five of the seven votes while Mohammed Mustafa Dodmani was elected as the Deputy with the same margin.
