PANAJI
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday indicated that the Zilla Panchayat elections will be held in Goa in December itself and the State Election Commission is expected to make the announcement any time soon.
“As per my estimate ZP elections will be held in December itself. State Election Commission will announce the elections anytime now,” Sawant said.
The Zilla Panchayat election process had to be abandoned at the eleventh hour in March as the polling day (March 22) coincided with the nationwide 'Janata Curfew' imposed by the Centre to tackle the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The final part of the election process -- polling and declaration of results -- was stalled but it is unclear whether the SEC will hold it exclusively or permit the political parties and candidates in the fray additional campaigning time now before polling is held.
The possibility of legal challenges to continuing the election process after it was frozen for more than eight months due to the pandemic cannot be ruled out, SEC sources said.
Differences of opinion on the dates for polls had surfaced with Urban Development Minister Milind Naik suggesting that polls were likely to be held in mid-December while Panchayats Minister Mauvin Godinho had announced two dates -- January 9 and 16, 2021 -- for the ZP polls.
