VALPOI
With major political parties not declaring their panels at the Valpoi Municipal Council (VMC) elections on March 20, all candidates have been upbeat about their success as campaigning came to an end on Thursday.
The candidates, who had been actively campaigning in their respective wards till Thursday, were pleased that the major political parties had not declared their panels as that would give them an equal opportunity and hope to fight the elections.
A total of 23 candidates are in the fray in nine of the 10 wards at the VMC, after Nirmala Sakhalkar was elected unopposed from Ward 8.
A straight fight will take place in Wards 1, 3 , 5 ,6 ,7 and 10, while three candidates will contest in Ward 2 and four candidates will contest in Wards 4 and 9.
The outgoing councillors seeking re-election are Anil Katkar (Ward 1), Ramdas Shirodkar (Ward 2), Umesh Gulelkar (Ward 3), Idrus Sheikh and Abdul Munir Beig (Ward 5), Sharafat Khan (Ward 6), Sarfaraz Syed (Ward 7), Dharmendra Salunke (Ward 9) and Sahazin Sheikh (Ward 10).
