the goan I network
PANAJI
Several days after facing flak for the perceived dalliance with the political executive and its obscurity in matters related to the conduct of the March 22 Zilla Panchayat elections, the State election commission finally announced the detailed schedule and released the list of reserved constituencies on Friday.
A total of 31 of the 50 ZP constituencies have been reserved, according to the list released by the polling authorities on Friday. Like in the State Assembly elections, Dhargalim (in Pernem) is reserved for members of the Scheduled Caste community. Six constituencies are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and 14 for Other Backward Class (OBC) candidates. Seventeen seats are reserved for women, including a few of them from OBC.
In a separate notification the SEC also brought into force the Code of Conduct from midnight of Friday-Saturday right up to March 23, the day counting will be taken up and results declared.
According to the schedule, nominations will be accepted between February 27 to March 5. Scrutiny will be held on March 6 and on March 7, those candidates wishing to withdraw from the fray will be given time.
An estimated 8.30 lakh strong electorate is eligible to vote at the ZP polls, for which ballot papers and not electronic voting machines will be used at the elections where representatives to 50 seats in the district level upper tier of the Panchayati Raj system of the State will be elected. These elections, are also permitted to be contested on political party lines.
Meanwhile, legislators from the Opposition camp are upset with the list of seats reserved for various categories, including one for Scheduled Castes, announced by the SEC. On the other hand, ministers and ruling side legislators seemed satisfied with the
