SANGUEM
After a major embarrassment over their inability to elect their own candidate as chairperson, the BJP-backed councillors took back control on Friday when Curchorem-Cacora Municipal Council (CCMC) Chairperson Balkrishna Hodarkar was ousted in a no-confidence motion by 9-6 votes, bringing his 15-day tenure to an end.
At the special meeting presided over by Johnson Fernandes, the nine councillors who voted in favour of the motion were Jasmine Braganza, Pramod Naik, Vishwas Sawant, Yolanda Pereira, Carmelina Moraes, Rucha Vasta, Damodar Bhende, Tony Coutinho and Rima Alise. Those voted against the motion were Balkrishna Hodarkar, Pradip Naik, Sushant Naik, Clementina Fernandes, Aparna Prabhudessai and Mangaldas Ghadi.
After the meeting, Vishwas Sawant, who is tipped to be the next CCMC chairperson, said the post of chairperson and vice-chairperson will be decided on rotation among the nine councillors from his group.
On the other hand, Hodarkar hinted on contesting the next assembly elections from Curchorem constituency with the support of his constituents and councillors.
The BJP had been left red-faced, when the BJP-backed candidate Vishwas Sawant had lost to Hodarkar in a secret ballot by 8-7 votes during the election for the chairperson on April 1, even though the party claimed support of 10 of the 15 councillors in its panel. This indicated that three candidates in the BJP panel had voted for Hodarkar.
Hours after the rival candidate, Hodarkar, was elected as CCMC chairperson, 10 newly elected councillors -- Tony Coutinho (Ward 6), Damodar Bhende (Ward 2), Pramod Naik (Ward 1), Vishwas Sawant (Ward 13), Jasmine Braganza (Ward 5), Rhucha Vasta (Ward 15), Reema Alise (Ward 9), Yolanda Pereira (Ward 8) and Carmelina Morais (Ward 10) and Sushant Naik (Ward 7) -- moved a no-confidence motion against him.
Power Minister and Curchorem MLA Nilesh Cabral was quick to slam some councillors of CCMC for their lack of ethics and principles, after Hodarkar was elected chairperson, but downplayed the incident and said it was not a setback to him and that, he would continue his work in Curchorem as he did not depend on the CCMC.
The Directorate of Municipal Administration, however, stated that the no-confidence motion moved by them could not be considered hours after Hodarkar was elected as chairperson, as the proceedings of the special meeting to elect the chairperson and vice-chairperson had not yet been received.
The DMA later issued a fresh notice to the councillors to convene a meeting on Friday to decide on the no-confidence motion against CCMC Chairperson Balkrishna Hodarkar.
