BJP wrests back Ponda dy chief’s post

Ponda: Despite two members of the BJP-backed

Ponda Nagrik Samiti

being absent during the voting on the motion of no-confidence against Ponda Municipal Council’s (PMC) deputy chairperson Amina Naik, the panel managed to wrest back the post from MGP’s Rising Ponda group.

Amina was ousted by an 8-4 margin on Tuesday, within 19 days as deputy chairperson of the 15-member Ponda civic body.

The voting was held by show of hands. Venkatesh Naik and Chandrakala Naik of the Ponda Nagrik Samiti and Rising Ponda’s Pradeep Naik were absent during the voting.

On September 5, eight councillors of the BJP-backed panel had served a notice of no-trust motion against Amina, who was elected to the post on September 25. Amina had defeated BJP-backed Anand Naik by 8-7 votes.

It may be recalled that the BJP panel had won only five seats in the municipal polls held in 2018. However, the panel managed to increase its to 10, after Ponda MLA’s son Ritesh Naik, William Aguiar and Anand of the Congress, and MGP’s Yatish Sawkar and Virendra Dhavalikar joined the Ponda Nagrik Samiti.