MAPUSArrHigh drama preceded the election as reserved Presiding Officer (PO) had to be rushed to the meeting after the designated PO suddenly took ill. rThe reserved PO, Sandesh Naik, who reached the meeting hall 20 minutes late after some confabulations with the members finally decided to adjourn the meeting after four panch members, who were in minority raised objection against the election. rSources told The Goan that Krishna Gadekar who was deputed to conduct the sarpanch/deputy election reportedly felt uneasy on way to the meeting hall and diverted his vehicle to the Siolim Primary Health Centre, where he was admitted for high blood pressure. rGadekar was apparently hale and hearty when he left the BDO’s Mapusa office on way to Anjuna in the morning. rFormer sarpanch Savio Almeida, however, blamed the reserved PO for delaying the process and finally giving in to the opposition demand. r“The PO, instead of taking into the account the majority’s say, adjourned the meeting on the request of the four opposition members,” Almeida said. rAccording to the former sarpanch, those in power were playing games/tricks since their group could not cobble up the numbers. r“This was all pre-planned. The designated PO went to the hospital and the reserved PO delayed his arrival, with the intention to scuttle the election process,” he said. rSurprisingly, Almeida, who was all set to be elected as Sarpanch refused to blame the government for the fiasco but chose to blame the four opposition panch members. r“The four opposition members are delaying the process to harass my supporters and to poach them. My supporters are flooded with calls with out of the blue offers,” he said and added that his supporters will not fall for the trap and remain united. rHe further said that the minister and the local MLA was not involved in the games but he was being pressurized by some people. r“Our MLA is a neutral person. He is also not interested in panchayat politics, but he is being pressurized by some people,” Almeida said. rIncidentally, the State excise department on Friday conducted a raid on the wholesale liquor outlet belonging to panch member, Pratima Govekar in Anjuna. Govekar is one of the seven supporters of Almeida. rDirector of Panchayat Sandhya Kamat said since the reserved PO had reached late for the meeting the election had to be adjourned. r“Since the designated PO fell sick, Bardez BDO arranged for a reserved PO to conduct the meeting. But since he reached late the reserved PO decided to adjourn the meeting. Now the government will give another date soon,” said Kamat.
High drama at Anjuna VP as sarpanch election adjourned
In what appears to be a game of political one-upmanship, elections to the sarpanch and the deputy in Anjuna panchayat were adjourned despite all 11 elected members present at the meeting hall on Saturday.
