PANAJI
As polls to 186 panchayats in the State are only a few days away, several instances of members of one family contesting in different wards have come to light which has thrown up the issue of Family Raj trying to gain foothold in the grassroot democracy.
And in Tiswadi taluka which has a total of 18 panchayats, several panchayats will see husband-wife duos, father-son duo, father-daughter duo, brothers slugging it out in the panchayat polls.
And it appears that in the Cumbarjua constituency which has a total of 7 panchayats, the Se Old Goa panchayat leads in the husband-wife duo in the fray as there are as many as four couples contesting in different wards from the panchayat.
They are Vinayak Fadte (ward 6)/Pradnya Fadte (ward 4), Nilkant Bhomkar (ward 8)/Namrata Bhomkar (ward 5), Vishal Volvoikar (ward 6)/Saee Volvoikar (ward 9), and Sandesh Marshelkar (ward 5)/Sandhya Marshelkar (ward 4).
In neighbouring Corlim there are there couples trying their luck namely Goraknath Kerkar (ward 7 & 9)/Supriya Kerkar (ward 5), Caetano Po (ward 5)/Freeda Po (ward 6) and Albino Sequeira (ward 6)/Yvonne Sequeira (ward 4).
In Carambolim, Wilson Valadares is in fray in ward 1 and wife Angela in ward 7.
In St Cruz constituency, which has three panchayats, Chimbel sees the trio of husband-wife-daughter as husband Mohan Narve is contesting from ward 2, wife Mohini Narve is contesting from ward 4 and daughter Sujata Narve is contesting from ward 1. Further, former sarpanch Chandrakant Kunkolkar who has been controlling the panchayat for several terms is contesting from ward 5 and this time around has introduced his son Pundalik Kunkolkar, who is contesting from ward 6.
In Santa Cruz, apart from the husband-wife duo of Laxman Bandodkar (ward 5)/Shilpa Bandodkar (ward 4), the Araujo brothers are also contesting with Mariano contesting from ward 7 and Peter Araujo from ward 8.
In Merces, Anil Hoble’s wife Sandhya Hoble is contesting from ward 9 and his brother Lavu Hoble is contesting from ward 10.
In St Andre constituency having seven panchayats, the nine member Goa Velha panchayat has the husband-wife duo of Tomas Carvalho (ward 7)/Linette Carvalho (ward 9) in the fray with Linette’s brother Alfredo Mendes also contesting in ward 8. Further there is the father-daughter duo of Francisco D’Souza (ward 4) and Carolina D’Souza (ward 1).
In Curca, husband Subhash Shirodkar is in fray in ward 5 and his wife Sushma in ward 4 whereas in Agassaim, former MLA Francisco Silveira’s nephew Allan Silveira has already been elected unopposed from ward 1 while the former legislator’s brother Benny Silveira is contesting in ward 2.
The question that now arises is whether the voters will allow the Family Raj to control the panchayats in Tiswadi or whether they will reject it.
St Andre MLA against promotion of Family Raj
PANAJI: Speaking out against Family Raj in politics, St Andre MLA Viresh Borkar said that neither he nor the Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) promotes such types of politics.
“I have not fielded multiple candidates from one family as Family Raj is not good for democracy,” Borkar stated while also voicing out his opposition to those who are seeking re-election time and again.
“It is time that the panchayats are handed to new, young and non-corrupt faces so that transparency is brought in the grassroot governance. Those who are fielding their family members and those who are re-contesting are only doing it for the greed of power and money,” Borkar added.
When questioned about Family Raj in panchayat politics, Cumbarjua MLA Rajesh Faldessai too said that he is against it.
“I have not fielded more than one candidate from a single family barring Vishal and Saee Volvoikar in Se Old Goa. We had decided to field Saee from one ward and had chosen some other candidate in the other ward. But when OBC reservations were done, we were left with no choice but to field Vishal from that ward as we had no OBC candidate,” Faldessai explained.
