PANAJI
The strength of municipal councils for the upcoming municipal elections will be determined on the basis of the population of the municipal area rather than the number of voters, with the State government notifying the Goa Municipalities (Amendment) Act, 2026, passed by the Assembly earlier this month.
The Goa State Election Commission (SEC) will apply the revised formula while conducting the upcoming municipal elections across all 11 municipalities -- the process of which has to be completed before January 4, 2027. The Act, which received the Governor’s assent, also makes the existing 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) subject to empirical data on their political backwardness. With the Act coming into force, the Goa Municipalities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2026, promulgated in April, has been repealed. The amendment changes the existing formula for determining the number of councillors in municipal councils. For both A and B class municipalities, an additional councillor will now be determined on the basis of every 3,000 population, replacing the existing criterion of 2,500 voters. Speaking to The Goan, State Election Commissioner Menino D’Souza said the revised provisions would be applicable to the forthcoming municipal elections.
As per the directives of the Bombay High Court, ward delimitation has to be notified by September 9, followed by the reservation of wards.
The government has stated that the amendment has been introduced to ensure fair representation of people from different wards in accordance with the population of the municipal area. On OBC reservation, the Act changes the earlier mandatory 27 per cent reservation to state that it “may be 27 per cent”, with the actual extent to be determined after obtaining empirical data on the political backwardness of OBCs. The SEC will obtain the required data from the Goa State Commission for Backward Classes for each municipal area and its wards before undertaking the reservation exercise. “The empirical data pertaining to political backwardness shall be obtained by the State Election Commission from the Goa State Commission for Backward Classes in respect of each or any municipal area and the wards, based on the final notification of delimitation,” the Act states. The amendment also lays down a time-bound process for delimitation and reservation ahead of the municipal elections. Once the number of wards is notified, the SEC will have 60 days to complete the delimitation exercise, followed by 30 days for inviting public objections and another 30 days to issue the final delimitation notification.
