CANACONA
The term “unopposed” became the new norm at local bodies in Canacona, after six sarpanchas and seven deputies elected unopposed in seven panchayats across the taluka.
All seven panchayats have pledged their affiliation to the BJP government and have assured to bring all round development to their respective villages.
The various presiding officers along with panchayat secretaries initially accepted nominations to the posts of sarpanch and dy sarpanch to begin the process for elections to the two posts.
Verification and scrutiny were later conducted and the election process was completed with virtually all panchayats without elections as the sarpanchas and deputies were elected unopposed.
The lone exception was in Gaondongrim, where seasoned panch Yeshwant (Dhilon) Desai had to face a contest, as panch Prabhakar Gaonkar also filed his nomination to the post of Sarpanch.
Dessai, however, triumphed with 5-3 votes as one vote was not accounted in the 9-member Gaondongrim panchayat. Saloni Gaonkar was declared elected unopposed as dy sarpanch.
At Agonda, all seven members have been elected to the Agonda Panchayat for the first time and 71-year-old Fatima Rodrigues and 25-year-old Prettal Fernandes were elected unopposed as sarpanch and dy sarpanch.
At Khola, Ajay Pagui was elected unopposed as Sarpanch, while Krupesh Velip was also elected unopposed in the 9-member Khola panchayat.
Sources said a meeting with ex-Dy CM and BJP State Vice-President Chandrakant Kavlekar was convened on Sunday, where it was decided to rotate the posts posts of sarpanch and dy sarpanch among the panchas for 8 months as nearly 7 panchas staked claim to the post.
At Shrishthal, Sejal Gaonkar was elected unopposed Sarpanch, while Shivraja V Naik Deshmukh was elected unopposed as Dy Sarpanch.
At Poinguinim, Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar’s wife, Savita, was elected unopposed as sarpanch, while Sunil Paingankar was elected unopposed as dy sarpanch.
At Khotigao, Anandu Desai and Punam Gaonkar were elected unopposed as sarpanch and deputy sarpanch.
At Loliem-Polem, Pratiza Bandekar was elected unopposed as sarpanch and Chandrakant Babai Sudhir was elected unopposed as dy sarpanch.
