PANAJI
The Goa cabinet on Friday cleared an ordinance granting the State Election Commission (SEC) complete authority over local body elections, including municipal councils, panchayats, and zilla panchayats, marking a major shift in the State’s electoral framework.
The legal process to formally issue the ordinance, however, may be delayed for a few days but government sources said it will in all likelihood be promulgated by early next week, since the Governor Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju is reportedly out of station.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said the move fulfills a long-standing demand. “All rights to hold these elections will now rest with the commission,” he told reporters after the cabinet meeting.
Until now, the government had a role in the conduct of local polls as delimitation and reservation roster was decided by bureaucrats under the respective departments -- Urban Development and Panchayati Raj.
The ordinance empowers the SEC to oversee reservation of wards and delimitation.
In the meantime, administrators have been appointed to five municipalities, with more expected soon.
“We will be placing administrators one by one across other councils as their terms near completion,” a senior official in the Directorate of Municipal administration said.
This means all the municipalities will function without elected representatives until polls are held.
The SEC is expected to give around two months for public to raise objections on delimitation and reservations.
The development has sparked debate. Many welcome the empowerment of the SEC, saying it will ensure greater independence in the conduct of polls but concerns over delays and the absence of elected representatives in municipalities under administrators, remain.
Curtailed session forced ordinance route
The State government's abrupt decision to curtail the budget session of the Goa Legislative Assembly in March, citing the Model Code of Conduct for the now cancelled Ponda bye-elections, forced it to opt for the ordinance route to give control of elections to the State Election Commission (SEC).
Highly placed government sources said, amendments to both the local body laws -- The Goa Municipalities Act, 1968, and the Goa Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 -- were slated for discussion and passage giving the SEC sweeping powers to conduct the polls during the budget session.
Municipal polls likely to be delayed by 2 months: AG
Advocate General Devidas Pangam has said that the State Election Commission must prepare draft proposals, invite objections, and issue final notifications before municipal polls can be held.
“The timeline for this process has been fixed. Based on that, the election schedule will be drawn. The process will extend the time required, and municipal elections may be pushed forward,” Pangam said.
Officials from the Directorate of Municipal Administration confirmed that, except for Sanquelim and Ponda, elections to other councils are likely to be postponed.
Pangam said the step was necessary in view of repeated complaints and litigation over the process. This new practice is likely to push civic elections back by a couple of months.
