NT Reporter
Panaji/Ponda
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday said that altogether three seats have been allotted to the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party for contesting the zilla panchayat polls, just as the Bharatiya Janata Party said it will support independent candidates in some of the areas.
“The remaining zilla panchayat candidates of the BJP will be announced tomorrow by the election committee,” he added.
The Chief Minister was speaking to mediapersons after meeting a group of ZP candidates of the BJP whose names were announced on November 30.
Sawant said the meeting was also attended by state BJP president Damu Naik, and was convened to brief the selected candidates about the rules and regulations of the election.
“We provided them all the election-related guidance highlighting on the victory,” he said, mentioning that the BJP has given prominence to new faces in the list of its candidates.
The BJP has announced its first list of 19 candidates for the elections that included four women candidates, three scheduled tribe candidates, two candidates from other backward class, one candidate from scheduled caste, and nine under the general category. Siddhesh Naik, sitting ZP member and son of Union Minister of State Shripad Naik, is among these 19 candidates.
The state BJP president said the loyalty towards the party, experience and relationship maintained with voters as a party worker, have been considered before finalising the candidates.
Naik also said the MGP has been allotted two segments in Madkai and one in Mandrem.
The ZP polls will be conducted on December 20. In all, 8.68 lakh voters will decide the fate of candidates in 50 segments.
Cabinet minister Subhash Phaldessai, who also attended the meeting, said BJP stays connected with the people every day, and not just during the elections.
“We don’t reach out only during elections; we stay connected daily,” he added, pointing out, “In Rivon, zilla panchayat election preparations are complete, while in Barcem, the candidate will be announced soon.”
Meanwhile, Dr Ketan Bhatikar, who narrowly lost the 2022 assembly elections from Ponda constituency, questioned how BJP has declared their candidate for the Curti constituency when the sitting member is from MGP.
He said as they are in alliance BJP should have respected the alliance dharma.
Accompanied by his workers, Bhatikar declared that an independent candidate will be fielded by his group in Curti and expressed confidence of victory.
Bhatikar declined to go into the reasons why MGP may not have insisted on the party candidate in Curti.
He, however, made it clear that they would not allow BJP to flex its muscles while finalising candidates.
MGP chief Pandurang (Deepak) Dhavalikar said the party will declare its candidates in the next few days, adding the party is preparing for the 2027 assembly elections through the ZP polls.
“We are going by the alliance as the next assembly elections are more important for us,” he said.
