TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The BJP government is once again testing the waters to conduct panchayat and zilla panchayat elections on party lines, Panchayat Minister Dayanand Mandrekar declared on Tuesday. It also intends to hold the ZP elections by March 2017.
Speaking to media persons at the Secretariat Tuesday evening, Mandrekar said that the government is looking into the possibility of conducting panchayat and ZP elections on party lines by making necessary amendments to the Goa Panchayat Raj Act. “At the same time, we will make sure that our decision fits within the legal framework of the Constitution of India,” he said.
He seems to be taking off from where former Panchayat Minister and present Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar had left off after mooting the proposal to conduct panchayat and ZP elections on party lines, to which there was fierce opposition. Presently, in Goa, local political leaders float panels ahead of panchayat or municipality elections, by roping in panchayat members of their choice.
In states such as West Bengal, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, panchayat elections are conducted on party lines. West Bengal also has an anti-defection law in force to debar defections at the local-government level.
Mandrekar said that the government will ensure that new ZPs are constituted by March 2017, since the last ZP elections were held in 2012.
The minister said that his government has already started delimitation process for ZPs, with focus on ensuring equal ZP representation in both the districts with 25 members being elected from North and South Goa each. The current distribution is 30 seats for North and 20 for South.
“With other backward class (OBC) reservation going up from 19 percent to 27 percent, the seat reservation will also have to be increased,” Mandrekar said.
