THE GOAN
Mauvin, however, hastened to add that the final decision will be taken in consultation with the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and after a Cabinet nod.
It would be six months on September 22 since the State Election Commission had postponed the elections for the North and South Goa ZPs scheduled on March 22 due to the pandemic lockdown.
The Panchayat Minister told The Goan that the government would soon take a call on the question of holding the elections in view of the Election Commission of India’s SOP and guidelines on conducting elections. “The ECI has recently come out with detailed guidelines and SOP on how to go about conducting an election. These speak about the measures needed to comply with the entire election process.
The case of the ZP election in Goa is different. What we need is only hold the election as the campaign had ended before the lockdown had come into force,” he said. The minister said he was personally in favour of holding the ZP polls. He pointed out that the elected ZPs can straightaway start their work after the elections with Goa set to receive around Rs 75 crore under the Finance Commission.
“As per the Finance Commission guidelines, the ZPs in Goa will be entitled for 15 per cent of the Rs 75 crore funds. Fifteen per cent of the Finance Commission funds means a substantial chunk which can be utilised for several works,” Mauvin added. Elections to the two ZPs scheduled on March 22 were postponed by the government as the date clashed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to the people to observe a country-wise Janata Curfew on that day.
