PANAJI
The Sanquelim Municipal Council will have a woman chairperson as the Goa State Election Commission (GSEC) reserved the post for women in a fresh order issued by Commissioner W V Ramanmurthy on Tuesday. The post for the Ponda civic body will remain unreserved. The term of both civic bodies will end on May 20, 2023.
The Sanquelim municipal council is currently dominated by Congress’ Dharmesh Saglani-backed panel after the BJP-backed chairperson was ousted in a no-confidence motion in 2021.
The upcoming elections will be held on non-party lines with the ballot voting scheduled on May 5 and counting on May 7.
On Tuesday, which marked the last day of the filing of nominations, the GSEC received 61 nominations for Ponda and 57 for Sanquelim councils. Saglani filed his candidature from ward numbers 4 and 9 from Sanquelim while his wife filed her nomination from ward number 2.
On Tuesday, minister Ravi Naik’s sons Ritesh and Roy filed their papers for Ponda civic polls.
The BJP has said it will not forge any pre-poll alliance with the MGP and given that the elections are not on party lines, it will back candidates in each ward.
