Luis elected new
Borim sarpanch
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PONDA
The election of a new sarpanch at Borim on Thursday has changed political equations and loyalties, with a majority of the panchas voting against a candidate backed by Industries Minister and local MLA Mahadev Naik.
Constancio Luis was elected as sarpanch of the nine-member Borim Panchayat by 5-4 votes. The post had fallen vacant after Jyoti Naik was ousted from office on May 16.
Interestingly, seven panchas believed to be close to Industries Minister Mahadev Naik had moved a no-confidence motion against Jyoti Naik and it was passed with the same number.
Deputy Sarpanch Prashila Muli, Constancio Luis, Deepali Naik, Tulshidas Gawade, Nutan Naik, Sanjay Gawade and Parimal Samant had moved the no-confidence motion against Jyoti Naik.
In an unexpected twist of events, two panchas from the same group were in the fray for the sarpanch's post and Luis defeated the other contestant Deepali Naik by 5-4 votes.
Dinesh Raikar, who was earlier close to Mahadev Naik, had distanced himself from the group of seven. But on Thursday, Luis could win only with the support of Dinesh Raikar and Jyoti Naik.
According to sources, Mahadev Naik had expressed his interest that Deepali Naik should become the next sarpanch. But defying the order, Luis filed his candidature during election process.
“It was our pre-planned strategy. Now, let the minister investigate who are the two panchas who supported our move,” said a panch on condition of anonymity.
However, it was not clear who were the two panchas from the group of seven who supported the new sarpanch.
Speaking to The Goan, Luis said he will take all the nine panchas into confidence to carry out development of Borim village. However, he refrained himself commenting on who supported him over new political equation.
