MARGAO
In a bid to break the deadlock, the Director of Panchayats is mulling calling for fresh election to fill up the vacant post of Carmona Sarpanch after the previous attempt to hold the election for the post went abegging for want of panchayat members.
Last time round, only a lone panchayat member, Sandra Fernandes, had turned up for the meeting called by the Panchayat Director to fill up the vacant post following the resignation by outgoing Sarpanch Savita Mascarenhas.
When The Goan called up Panchayat Director Ajit Panchwadkar to shed light on his plan vis-Ã -vis election for the Carmona Sarpanch, he said a fresh meeting will be called by his office to fill up the post lying vacant for some time. “I will call for fresh election for the vacant post as majority of the panchayat members did not turn up for the meeting,” Panchwadkar said.
He added: “We can explore other avenues, including submitting a report to the government on the ground situation in the Camorna panchayat, if the second attempt also fails to get a sarpanch elected by the panchayat members.”
Panchwadkar, however, hastened to add that the election authorities will hold election for the two Carmona panchayat seats, left vacant by the death of a member, Josinho Mendes and resignation by another member Benicio Carvalho. “My office will notify the vacancy to the two seats. Elections for the two seats will be conducted by the election authorities,” he added.
Carmona Panchayat is presently being ruled by deputy sarpanch Vailona Fernandes following the resignation of Sarpanch Savita Mascarenhas. The seven-member panchayat is facing a peculiar situation with the effective strength of the body being presently reduced to just four.
While panchayat member Allwyn George has proceeded on long leave, the death of a member and resignation of another member has created vacancies for two seats, bringing down the effective strength of the body to four.
