Merces sarpanch election postponed yet again
THE GOAN NETWORK
OLD GOA
The election to the post of sarpanch at Merces was postponed for the second time in a month, as the BDO observer failed to turn up for the special meeting on Tuesday.
The sarpanch’s post had fallen vacant after former sarpanch Prakash Naik resigned on January 20.
Later, the BDO convened a special meeting to elect the sarpanch on March 20, but it was postponed at the last moment.
On Tuesday, the ruling panchas arrived at the panchayat office hoping that the election would take place this time around and that, acting sarpanch Socorinha Braganza would formally take over as the sarpanch.
However, there was no sign of the BDO observer even after the assigned time for the election had passed.
Suspecting something fishy, the ruling panchas then marched to the BDO’s office only to be told that the Tiswadi BDO and the BDO observer have gone for some inspection.
The angry panchas “ Prakash Naik, Yatin Palekar, Walter D’Sousa, Assis Fernandes, Socorinha Braganza and Priyanka Naik “ then vented their anger at the BDO officials by informing the media that the officials are playing into the hands of their political masters.
“One of the opposition panchas is using his clout to postpone the election as he is hoping that a disqualification plea against a ruling panch, which is pending in the SC, would be decided shortly,” said Palekar, while criticizing the BDO officials for unnecessarily convening a meeting to elect the sarpanch.
“If the opposition panchas think that they can muster a majority, they should have the guts to contest for sarpanch’s post,” thundered panch Walter D’Sousa,
“The BDO officials did not even have the courtesy to inform the panchayat that the election was postponed.”
When The Goan contacted Director of Panchayats Gurudas Pilarnkar, he admitted that such things happen sometimes due to unavoidable circumstances, forcing the officials to postpone the elections.
When questioned about the allegations of political pressure behind the incident, Pilarnkar replied, “Ultimately, the election has to be held within a period of 60 days, which ends on April 7. The election to the post of sarpanch will be held before April 7,” assured Pilarnkar, while stating that the issue had been blown out of proportion.
