PANAJI
Voters in the jurisdiction of three Zilla Parishad constituencies -- Reis Magos, Cortalim and Davorlim -- will head to polling booths on Sunday to cast their ballot from 8 am to 5 pm to elect their representative to the district level panchayat body.
The three seats fell vacant after the earlier representatives -- Kedar Naik (Reis Magos), Antonio Vas (Cortalim) and Ulhas Tuenkar (Davorlim -- quit following their election to the Goa legislative assembly.
The State Election Commission has said that the machinery is geared up to ensure encumbrance-free voting in the three Zilla Panchayat constituencies. The last hour from 4 pm to 5 pm will be reserved for voters who are Covid-19 positive, the poll body said.
Voting will be held by ballot paper and the election is being fought on political party lines. For the Reis Magos seat, it will be a prestige issue for Saligao MLA, Kedar Naik and the ruling BJP, who have fielded former Pilerne Sarpanch Bandodkar. The Congress has fielded Ms Pednekar while the Aam Aadmi Party is supporting an independent.
In Cortalim, Vas has fielded his wife as an independent and is being challenged by the Congress and the AAP.
In Davorlim, Tuemkar, who stunned political pundits by wresting the Navelim seat for the BJP in the Assembly elections, is making the ZP election a prestige matter. The ruling party is again challenged there by the Congress and the AAP.
The Revolutionary Goans Party has fielded its candidates in all the three ZP seats. However, since the party has failed to get the 'State recognised party' tag form the Election Commission of India, its candidates did not get the benefit of their 'football' symbol they were allotted during the assembly elections.
