MLAs hold sway over panchayats; several sitting panchas bite dust

PANAJIrResults of the panchayat elections across 15 wards in 11 panchayats were declared on Sunday with the respective MLAs claiming victories. rIn North Goa, while Rohan Khaunte claimed to have retained the Penha da França panchayat, the Congress camp headed by Nuvem MLA Wilfred D’Sa made a clean sweep in the election for the Nuvem and Betalbatim village Panchayats in Nuvem constituency, at the expense of arch rival former MLA Mickky Pacheco in the two panchayat bodies. rWhile the results were on predictable lines, there were upsets for good measure with several experienced panchas having to bite the dust at the hustings. rThe Anjuna Caisua panchayat turned its back on sitting MLA Vinoda Paliencar as the final results showed four candidates owing allegiance to Water Resource Minister and Siolim MLA, emerging victorious while four candidates backed by former sarpanch, Savio Almeida won. rTwo panchayats from Tiswadi taluka depicted two varying trends of voting. While Merces panchayat was retained by Prakash Naik panel, Curca-Bambolim-Telaulim panchayat swayed towards the sitting St Andre Congress MLA Francisco Silveira. rIn Bicholim MLA Rajesh Patnekar said that the lone Advalpal panchayat whose votes were counted on Sunday went in favour of the BJP. rThe elections to 15 wards across 11 panchayats were held on July 1, after a court battle that reached the Supreme Court. While the HC earlier stayed notifications declaring these wards as reserved, the government appealed in the Supreme Court overturning the HC’s orders. rHowever, since the nomination process was vitiated by these court orders, the State Election Commission sought the permission of the Bombay High Court at Goa to hold a fresh nomination process which meant the voting would have to be held at a later date. rThe counting for the entire village was held back until all the wards voted and were counted on Sunday.