the goan I network
PANAJI
A new mayor and deputy mayor of the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) will be elected on March 12, the date that the Corporation has fixed for holding the elections to the prestigious post.
The mayor and deputy mayor of the capital city’s civic body have a one-year term. The term of all other committees, including the standing committee and other special consultative committees of the CCP also run concurrent with that of the Mayor and his deputy.
The election is scheduled to be held on March 12 and the nomination forms for the two top posts will be accepted by CCP Commissioner’s office up to the previous day.The incumbent mayor, Uday Madkaikar is lobbying hard for another one-year term but sources said the Panaji MLA, Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate, is keen to use the two positions to placate factions, especially some corporators from the ‘original’ BJP group and may offer the top post to one of them.
The ruling group in the Corporation owes alleigiance to Monserrate since the last elections held in 2016 but the legislator was not a part of the BJP then. When he defected along with nine other MLAs from the Congress to the ruling BJP in July last year, the political equations among corporators aligned to him and those against too got fudged.
This last one-year term of the mayor and deputy mayor gains significance as it is the last of this term of the CCP and the two will have to go into an election in February-March next year.
