Rohit Monserrate (C) and Sanjeev Naik (R) after being re-elected unopposed as Mayor & Deputy Mayor of the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP).
PANAJI
The Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) Mayor Rohit Monserrate got his fourth term on Wednesday after his was the only nomination filed for the top post of the capital city's civic body.
Also, Sanjiv Naik will continue to be the Deputy Mayor for the third consecutive year after his nomination again was the only one filed. The announcement of the re-election of the Monserrate-Naik duo at the helm was made on Wednesday afternoon by CCP Commissioner Clen Madeira.
The deadline for filing nominations for the two top posts was 3 pm on Tuesday. According to the CCP Act, 2004, the term of the mayor and deputy mayor is one year and they have to be elected every year before March 31.
Meanwhile, Monserrate said, he wishes to complete some of the projects taken up during his third term and cited the new CCP building as one of them. "We want the corporation to be fully self sufficient,” Monserrate said.
Revenue Minister Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate controls the CCP with a brute 25-5 majority and it was almost certain that Rohit, who is his son, would go on to retain his position for the fourth year. There were, however, some other claimants for the deputy mayor's post but Naik, sources in the ruling camp said, found favour with Monserrate senior again.
"He (Sanjiv) was one of the few prominent BJP 'karyakartas' who stood by Monserrate while most of the others from Panaji switched allegiance to Manohar Parrikar's son Utpal at the time of the 2022 assembly elections," the source said, explaining why Monserrate shot down the claims of some of the senior councillors from his camp.
