MARGAO
Politicians in the urban areas going to the Municipal polls are keeping their fingers crossed as the High Court is finally expected to pronounce its verdict in the bunch of petitions challenging the ward reservations on Monday.
Sources said the matter on ward reservations will come up before the two Judge Bench comprising of Justice M S Sonak and Justice Bharati H Dangre on Monday morning.
The Court is expected to pronounce judgement in the petitions filed by Romaldo Fernandes, Fouziya Imtiaz Shaikh, Shraddha S Amonkar, Michael John Carrasco, Sayad Riaj and Gaurav Madkaikar challenging the reservation of wards notified by the Director of Municipal Administration.
The eagerly-awaited judgement has left the local politicos to keep their fingers crossed as the verdict is expected to decide the fate of the election process already set in motion in the Municipal bodies going to the polls on March 20.
While the ruling BJP has unveiled its list of candidates for the Margao Civic body and the CCP, and is in the process of announce candidates in other Municipalities, the opposition has been going slow in declaring their candidates, especially in the Municipal areas of Margao and Fatorda, besides Cuncolim and other places.
Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat on Sunday declined to name his candidates in certain wards of Margao saying since the High Court is expected to pronounce its verdict, it would be prudent for everyone to wait for one day to know the candidates.
Politicians in private say that any verdict against the ward reservations capped by the government would only mean a fresh exercise, which in the scheme of things is expected to herald changes in the list of candidates.
“If the High Court ruling goes against the ward reservation, it may push the election schedule”, Kamat said. He, however, advised his workers to continue working on the ground irrespective of the High Court verdict, saying the workers should be ready to face any eventuality.
