Goa Forward Party vents ire at SEC over panchayat elections

MARGAO:

Goa Forward Party

(GFP) on Thursday said the scheduling of elections to village panchayats and instructing the caretaker government to conduct delimitation of wards is likely to affect free and fair conduct of the polls.

While stating that these two moves by the

State Election Commission

(SEC) has cast a shadow on its independence, GFP president

Prabhakar Timble

, and general secretary

Mohandas Lolienkar

, protested against the commission for entrusting the crucial task of delimitation of wards to the directorate of panchayats.

“The SEC should know that consultation with a caretaker CM is no consultation at all while fixing the election date. Delimitation is an issue critical to any election and a statutory body like the SEC cannot leave this work to a government that is fading out,” Timble told reporters on Thursday.

The

party

has vowed to prevail upon the new government to ensure that the delimitation process is carried out strictly under the control and supervision of the SEC. It further objected to the hurry in which the decision about the panchayat elections was taken up, stating that it has cast a shadow over the SEC and has rattled the people’s confidence.

“A caretaker government is not expected to take basic and critical decisions. Any delimitation of wards by a government that is rejected by the people at the recently-held assembly elections would be a mockery of justice, making the panchayat elections a farce,” Timble said.
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