Goa govt notifies ordinance to defer municipal elections

Panaji: State govt on Thursday notified the Goa Municipalities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2026, which will delay the elections for 11 municipalities in the state scheduled to be held next month.

MLAs wanted the municipal elections postponed till the assembly elections are held in 2027.

A political observer said that since there are three to four aspirants in each municipal ward, MLAs were of the opinion that in case municipal elections are held, there could be resentment among their supporters, which could be difficult for them to get elected in the assembly elections.

The elections for Bicholim, Pernem, Valpoi, Cuncolim, Curchorem-Cacora and Canacona were conducted in March 2021, and for Mapusa, Margao, Quepem, Sanguem and Mormugao, it was held in April 2021.

The political observer said that polls would be delayed for the simple reason that, even if the elections are announced within a week, it will be held in Goa at the end of May and for that state election commission (SEC) has to complete delimitation and reservation of wards, which has not been completed.

The SEC has submitted the delimitation file to the govt for approval, which is still pending with the govt.

With the notification, SEC has to restart the process of delimitation and reservation of wards. “If you go by the timeline set by govt as per the ordinance, SEC will require a minimum of two to four months to complete the delimitation and reservation of wards, which makes it impossible to hold municipal elections next month as scheduled,” the observer said.

Govt has appointed administrators in municipal councils whose tenure ended in March. Similarly, govt will appoint administrators whose tenure will come to an end this month. Mormugao and Margao will be the last municipal councils whose tenure will end in May.

For reservation of wards, SEC is completely dependent on Goa State Commission for Backwards Classes (GSCBC). The SEC cannot go ahead with the finalisation of reservations of wards until it gets empirical data pertaining to political backwardness from GSCBC. There is no clarity on how to go ahead with reservation of wards in case GSCBC fails to submit the data on time.