NT NETWORK
PANAJI
The elections to 186 village panchayats in the state will be held on June 11, and for the first time there will be reservation for the scheduled castes in the polls.
Announcing that the panchayat polls would be held on June 11, Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho told a press conference on Friday that nine wards would be reserved for the SCs in the polls.
In the panchayat polls, there had never been ward reservation for the SCs, who had usually been nominated. Hence there had been a persistent demand from the community for the ward reservation.
Twelve per cent reservation will be made for schedule tribes, 27 per cent for other backward classes and 33 per cent for women.
Two wards will be reserved for women in five- and seven-member panchayat, whereas three wards will be reserved for women in nine- and 11-member bodies.
A notification on the reservation will be issued on May 8. Altogether 186 village panchayats with 1522 wards will go to the polls on June 11. The panchayat directorate has already completed process of delimitation of wards, which will be notified by Saturday.
This time there will be 32 new wards in 16 village panchayats. Besides, the newly-constituted Quelosim panchayat will have seven wards, taking the number of new wards to 39.
The five-year term of the existing panchayat ends on May 26. The minister said the government has factored in every representation made on delimitation of wards, which has been effected as per 2011 census.
Earlier this week, the High Court of Bombay at Goa had directed the state government to hold panchayat elections on or before June 12.
The government had earlier announced that the panchayat polls would be held on June 25. However, later the government had advanced the date to June 17.
