VASCO
The recent reservations for the upcoming civic polls have sent many stalwart councillors in the search of new wards after their wards have been reserved.
While many wards have been reserved for women, announcements have already been made where outgoing councillors are forced to get their wives to contest from the wards and councillors in Mormugao Taluka have even made a shift from one constituency to the other
While three-time city councillor Krishna Salkar, former chairperson Nandadeep Raut have announced that their wives will contest from their wards, former chairperson of Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) and outgoing councillor of ward no 25, Kritesh Gaonkar on Tuesday announced that he will now contest the upcoming civic polls from ward no 24 which was represented by Bhavna Nanoskar.
Speaking to reporters, Gaonkar said Ward 25 had been reserved for women this time and explained his decision to change his ward for the poll.
"After my ward was reserved for women many of the people in the area were upset. However, my office was flooded with calls to change my ward and shift to ward no 24 which I had represented earlier. While the people of my ward were upset, the people from ward 24 began coming to my office regularly for the last few days, they have been continuously requesting me to contest from ward no 24 and after I spoke to my well wishers and to the people of both the wards no 25 and ward no 24, I have taken this decision," said Gaonkar
"I have earlier represented the ward no 24 and I have a huge base of voters in the ward. The people of ward no 24 had got me elected earlier and I have even been the MMC Chairperson during that tenure and got a lot of works done in that ward.
I will personally meet all residents in the ward to seek their blessings and support for the coming elections. Even when I was the chairperson of MMC, though for a short tenure of 6 months, I got a lot of development works sanctioned in my ward no 25 and also for ward no 24 as well. While I will always be there for my people of ward no 25, I will now contest from ward no 24 because of the reservation, " said Gaonkar.
