SANGUEM
Irked by the reservation of wards announced by Directorate of Municipal Administration for the ensuing municipal elections, councillor and former chairperson of Sanguem Municipal Council Fernandes has filed an appeal before the High Court challenging the reservation of Ward no 1 from Sanguem Municipal Council for a candidate from the Schedule Tribe despite the ward having hardly around two voters from the ST community.
In his petition filed before the High Court and which is scheduled to come up for hearing on February 15 (today), Fernandes has pointed out that the DMA has faltered in reserving Ward no 1 for ST candidates.
Fernandes also pointed out that Ward No 4 and 10 of the Sanguem Municipal Council have over 30 to 40 per cent of voters from the ST community. The authorities should have reserved one of these wards for the ST community, claimed Fernandes.
Fernandes also pointed out that in the elections before the last, Ward no 1 was reserved for women and now being reserved for an ST candidate is not fair.
Fernandes has also contended that in the last elections, Ward no 7 was reserved for ST candidates. This election it should have been the following ward based on the rotation policy followed while reserving wards for municipal elections.
Incidentally, Fernandes had brought to the notice of the DMA the negligible portion of ST voters in his ward in December last as he had doubts over the authorities reserving his ward for ST candidates. However, despite being informed, DMA went ahead with the reservation of Ward no 1 for ST candidates which Fernandes has now challenged.
