PANAJI
State Election Commission has recommended May 21 as the tentative date for holding elections to 190 panchayats across the State.
The recommendation was sent to the Directorate of Panchayats, which will conclude the process for delimitation and reservation of wards within the jurisdiction of each Panchayat before forwarding the SEC recommendation along with DoP inputs to the State government for final approval.
Speaking to The Goan, Director of Panchayats Gurudas Pilarnekar stated, “As is the official procedure, SEC sends a tentative date for Panchayat polls to the DoP at some point over the six months prior to the end of the present term. We have received a recommendation for May 21 and we have begun the preparations for delimitation of wards and reservation.”
In 2012, 189 panchayats had gone to polls on May 16. However, the number has increased to 190 with the inclusion of Quelossim as a new Panchayat, separated from Cortalim, towards the end of 2016.
Pilarnekar informed that, as is the norm, one-third of the seats in every Panchayat will be reserved for women. “The reservation of seats for Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes will be based on the population of these categories in every Panchayat,” he stated.
The entire procedure is likely to be concluded by the DoP within two months with the polls expected to be scheduled two and half months after the new state government assumes power on March 11.
