PANJIM: Ahead of upcoming Zilla Panchayat elections, scheduled on March 22, the Goa Forward Party (GFP) on Wednesday accused State Election Commission (SEC) of working as per the dictates of Dr Pramod Sawant-led government in conducting the polls.
Addressing media persons, GFP General Secretary Mohandas Lolienkar said that the SEC is the authority to announce the dates, however, the same has been done by the government.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
He commented that State Election Commissioner R K Srivastava, who is also a former Goa chief secretary, is treating his assignment as ‘vacation.’
“If the Election Commissioner is unable to perform the duties, then, he should resign,” he said.
GFP Vice President Durgadas Kamat said that the SEC is yet to announce the reservation of the constituencies for upcoming ZP polls.
“The file about reservation of constituencies is yet to reach to the State Election Commission. There is no idea as where the file is and who is deciding on the reservation,” he said.
“The Election Commission is working as per the dictates of Sawant led government,” Kamat said doubting that the polls would be free and fair.
Kamat charged that the Election Commissioner has become “lame-duck”.
Kamat said that with notification announcing election date, the code of conduct comes into force, technically, but State ministers are busy inaugurating several projects violating the code.
