Citizens term draft arbitrary; flag wide voter disparities across wards
Citizens submitting objections to the Margao Municipal ward delimitation on Tuesday.
MARGAO
Terming the draft Margao Municipal ward delimitation arbitrary, irrational and not in accordance with law, a delegation of citizens on Tuesday submitted objections, alleging that the division of wards is unscientific and results in unequal distribution of voters.
The delegation, led by Congress leader Savio Coutinho, pointed to significant disparities in voter strength across wards. For instance, Ward II has 3,519 voters, while Ward XIII has 1,632 and Ward XVI has 1,842. “The distribution is completely irrational. Minor variations are understandable, but here the difference runs into thousands,” he said.
Coutinho said there is no explanation for why some wards have barely 2,000 voters while others exceed 3,000. The lack of transparency in the criteria used for delimitation, he added, makes it difficult to raise effective objections or offer constructive suggestions.
He pointed out that delimitation requires voter strength across wards to be equal, or nearly equal, in proportion to the number of members fixed under Section 9 of the Goa Municipalities Act, 1968, as far as practicable.
“For Margao, each ward should have around 2,500 voters. However, the draft shows wide variations, resulting in unequal voter strength. This directly affects the value of each vote,” he said.
Comparatively, Coutinho noted that Curtorim has an average of 3,132 voters per ward and Fatorda 2,449, while Margao has 2,363. “This undermines free, fair and transparent elections,” he added.
He also raised concerns over ward boundaries. “There is no discernible basis for fixing boundaries. The draft shows major changes from the 2021 elections without explanation. It appears to be a ‘patchwork’ exercise aimed at creating safe wards for select candidates,” he alleged.
