the goan I network
MARGAO
As the military camp had no house number, the Aquem-Baixio panchayat body had raised doubts as to how the voters in the military camp can be included in the rolls during the delimitation process since the exercise is carried out with the house numbers indicating the electors. Panchayats Director, Gurudas Pilarnekar, however, says that though the military camp does not have a house number, the camp can be treated as a campus and the voters equally distributed amongst the neighbouring wards during the delimitation exercise.
“Can the authorities deny the military voters the right to exercise their vote just because the military camp does not have a house number when the voters are already registered in the electoral roll and have cast their vote in the Assembly election,” Panchayat Director, Pilarnekar questioned.
The panchayats director said he has already replied to the letter received from the Aquem-Baixio Panchayat Secretary Allaudin Maniyar, with a direction that the military voters can be equally distributed in the wards surrounding the military camp during the ensuing delimitation exercise. The panchayat secretary had sought advice and guidance from the panchayat director how to go about the matter given the fact that the military camp has no house number. The panchayat had argued that the military recruits should not be registered as voters for the ensuing panchayat polls on grounds that the military camp has no house number and hence cannot be included in any of panchayat wards.
The 662 voters from the military camp are all registered in part No 18 & 19 in the electoral roll of Navelim Assembly constituency. However, the Panchayat Secretary told the Panchayat Director that the military camp had no house number, while seeking his guidance how to go about including the voters in the panchayat electoral roll during delimitation.
Ward no V, VI and VII are all wards surrounding the military camp, and with the Panchayats Director stating that military voters cannot be denied the voting right, the military recruits may end up in being the voters of these wards ahead of the panchayat polls.
Incidentally, the Aquem Baixo panchayat had last month following by the gram sabha held on last Sunday opposed any move to include the military men on the panchayat electoral roll on grounds that the military recruits would influence the outcome of the panchayat election in at least three village wards.
