PERNEM
Twenty-one candidates will seek the support of 60,409 voters for the four ZP constituencies of Morjim, Arambol, Dhargal and Torsem in Pernem taluka, which goes to polls on Saturday.
Voting will take place across 89 booths and about 700 government workers have been deployed for election duty.
The Dhargal ZP constituency has been reserved for OBC candidates and the contest will be between six candidates, Atmaram Dhargalkar (MGP), Manohar Dhargalkar (BJP) and Dnyaneshwar Varkhadkar, Gurudas Virnodar, Harishchandra Parsekar and Pundalik Dhargalkar (independents).
The Arambol ZP constituency will witness fight among five candidates, Anant Gadekar (BJP), Narayan Redkar (Congress), Naresh Korgaonkar (NCP) and Rangnath Kalshavkar and Bharat Naik (independents).
Incidentally, Korgaonkar later withdrew his candidature and extended his support to Congress candidate Narayan Redkar, but will still figure on the ballot paper.
The Torsem ZP constituency, which is reserved for women candidates, will be contested by Sima Khadpe (BJP), Priyanka Mahale (MGP), Bharati Sawal and Shanti Korgaonkar (independents).
The Morjim ZP constituency will witness a contest between Shridhar Manjrekar (MGP), Dhananjay Shetgaonkar (BJP), Joao Fernandes (NCP), Prasad Shahapurkar (AAP), Mahesh Konadkar (Congress) and Satish Shetgaonkar (independent).
Congress candidate Mahesh Konadkar later withdrew and has backed MGP candidate, Shridhar Manjrekar, while NCP’s Joao Fernandes later joined Congress. These names will still be on the ballot paper.
Except for the Arambol ZP constituency, Congress does not have any candidates for the Morjim, Torsem or Dhargal ZP polls. The Congress has, however, extended support to MGP candidates in these ZP constituencies. On the other hand, MGP has not backed the Congress candidate in Arambol, but has announced its support to independent candidate Rangnath Kalshavkar.
