the goan I network
CANACONA
With barely a day for the nominations to end, Poinguinim ZP constituency recorded its first nomination on Wednesday, while a fourth candidate filed his nomination for the Khola ZP seat in
Canacona taluka.
According to reports, Congress candidate Reshma Velip was the first candidate to file a nomination for the Poinguinim ZP seat.
Velip was accompanied by GPCC General Secretary Janardhan Bhandari, GPCC Secretary Mahadev Desai, Poinguinim ex-sarpanch Ramdas Pujari, ex-Gaondongrim sarpanch Rajendra Velip and block office bearers, as she submitted her nomination papers to Returning Officer Pritidas Gaonkar.
On the other hand, BJP candidate and sitting ZP member Shanu Velip became the fourth contestant to file his papers for the Khola ZP seat.
Velip filed his nomination in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Babu Kavlekar, Deputy Speaker Isidore Fernandes, former minister Ramesh Tawadkar, Canacona BJP Mandal President Mahesh Naik and BJP workers.
Even though the BJP had announced the name of Shobhana Velip for the Poinguinim ZP seat, she had not filed her papers on Wednesday.
According to sources, there was some resentment within the local BJP cadre after Shobhana’s candidature was made public by the party, prompting one of the six aspirants for the BJP ticket to the Poinguinim ZP seat to threaten contesting as a rebel
independent candidate.
Amid rumours that the BJP ticket aspirant turned rebel Ranjana Velip would file her nomination as an independent, the local BJP unit reportedly kept Shobhana’s nomination on hold after she was initially scheduled to file her nomination on Wednesday.
Similarly, Congress party’s plans to finalise its candidate for the Khola ZP seat has also suffered a setback, as the party could not announce its candidate till Wednesday evening. According to Bhandari, state party leaders are awaiting a ground report and are likely to finalise one of four aspirants, including former Youth Congress leader Sanju Naik, who had later joined the BJP, only by Thursday, the last day to file nominations.
