Team Herald
PANJIM: The rules granting powers to the State Election Commission (SEC) for delimitation and reservation of panchayat wards, in consultation with State government is notified.
The rules come into force with this notification in the wake of elections to 186 Village Panchayats slated to be held in June 2022.
The State had, prior to the election code, pre-published the draft Rules of the Goa Panchayat and Zilla Panchayat (Election Procedure) (Seventh Amendment) Rules, 2021 pre-published as required by sub section (1) of section 240 of the Goa Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 (Goa Act 14 of 1994) in the Official Gazette.
The Department of Panchayat Raj and Community Development had invited objections and suggestions from all persons likely to be affected thereby before the expiry of 15 days from the date of publication of the Notification in the Official Gazette.
Since no objections/suggestions have been received from the public, the Government executed the amendment and as such these rules will now be called the Goa Panchayat and Zilla Panchayat (Election Procedure) (Seventh Amendment) Rules, 2021.
Instead of the director of panchayats, the task of dividing Panchayat area into wards and reservation of seats is assigned to SEC in consultation with the Government.
SEC had last December said that the final published Electoral Roll with qualifying date as January 1, 2022 would be utilised to assign voters to the Panchayat wards and reformation of the Panchayat wards if required.
