All eyes are on the reserved constituencies of Navelim, Velim, Guirdolim and Raia where the political players are on the job to finalise their candidates.
Take the case of Navelim. With sitting ZP member Cipru Cardozo deciding to contest the election as an Independent, the other political players in Navelim have a tough time to identify and groom the right candidates for the seat reserved for the OBC.
Even Navelim MLA and Fisheries Minister Avertano Furtado finds himself in a tight spot to field his candidate with hardly any candidate from the OBC willing to throw the hat in the ring. “So far, I am undecided how to go about in Navelim. We hardly have any OBC population in Navelim. I am indeed in a fix on fielding the right candidate”, Avertano added.
With the government reserving the Guirdolim ZP seat for women (ST), many a candidate, including former ZP Chief Clafacio Dias, are out of reckoning. Clafacio had covered much ground in the last one year in his bid to return back to the Zilla Panchayat, but with the Guirdolim seat being reserved for women (ST), he is believed to have zeroed in on a candidate from Paroda, while nothing has been heard from the rival political players.
The situation is no different at Raia, which has been reserved for women (ST). While two-time sitting member Domnick Gaonkar has decided to field wife Fatima for the reserved seat, Curtorim MLA Reginaldo Lourenco is yet to unveil his candidate, promising to field a good candidate in the constituency.
While the political players are scouting for candidates in the reserved seats, there appears no dearth of candidates in the open constituencies such as Benaulim. Sources in the know said that Benaulim MLA Caitu Silva may not field a candidate since he is opposed to the election ZP polls on party lines.
