SANGUEM
The reservation of wards declared for the forthcoming elections to Sanguem Municipal Council (SMC) has come in for severe criticism from outgoing councillors, as many of them have been effectively eliminated from contesting the elections.
Claiming that the reservation policy has been flawed, many of the affected councillors have threatened to seek legal remedy to get authorities to change the status of the wards reserved for ST and women in SMC.
A number of councillors complained that wards had been reserved for ST in wards which have hardly any ST population, while wards with sizeable ST population had failed to get their due share of reservation.
Former SMC chairperson Romualdo Fernandes, whose ward has now been reserved for the ST, complained there were hardly 10-12 voters from the ST community.
Similarly the ward presently represented by Fauzia Shaikh is now reserved for OBC general.
Veteran councillor, Sanjay Raikar, who has been in the SMC for the last 40 years without a break, will now be denied a chance to contest from his ward as it has been reserved for women.
To make matters worse, his plans to contest from Ward 6 has also been shattered as the ward is now reserved for OBC candidates.
Similar is the case with councillor, Sandesh Kossambe, whose ward now stands reserved for OBC women.
Plans by BJP youth leader Supraj Tari to contest from Ward 9 has also been disrupted as the ward is now reserved for OBC women.
Romualdo Fernandes has convened a news conference at Sanguem on Saturday to highlight the faulty policy of reserving wards.
“While the last SMC elections had seen Wards 3, 5, 7 being reserved for women, the councillors had anticipated that Wards 4, 6, 8, would now be reserved for women,” said Fernandes.
“Instead, the government has announced Wards 3, 8, 9 being reserved for women for the ensuing elections, which is not fair,” he added.
Incidentally, the present reservation of wards gives a chance to councillor Suryadatt Naik for the third time in a row.
Meanwhile, the issue of reservation of specific wards was a much-debated topic all over Sanguem town since Friday afternoon.
