NT NETWORK

Margao

Lyndon Pereira and Deepali Sawal are all set to be the next chairperson and vice chairperson respectively of Margao Municipal Council even as an election in that regard has been scheduled on May 27 by the government.

The decision over the two posts was taken during a special meeting held on Tuesday by two legislators-Digambar Kamat and Vijai Sardesai who had formed a pre-poll alliance under the banner of Margao Civic Alliance to contest the general municipal election and had won majority of the seats of the
total 25.

Margao Civic Alliance won a total of 17 seats. While Vijai Sardesai’s Fatorda Forward group won nine seats, Kamat’s Model Margao got eight seats. BJP had settled with seven, while one went to independent.

Pereira, who was elected the second time as a counicllor with the backing of Vijai Sardesai, was proposed for the top post for a period of first 15 months. The post of chairperson and vice chairperson will be shared among four councillors, each with a rotation system of 15 months, the legislators informed. This would be possible for them since they enjoy
the majority.

Sardesai, speaking to this daily after the meeting, said that Pereira’s name was proposed with a consensus among the majority of the councillors. Kamat on the other hand informed that Sawal has been selected for the vice chairperson’s post since she has been elected with a laudable margin.

“A chairperson from my group will serve after first 15 months. A decision has been taken collectively to have a rotation system. We will take a call later on who would be the chairperson from our Model Margao group,”
Kamat added.

It is pertinent to note here that Kamat and Sardesai have got the chance to control the reins at Margao Municipal Council for the second time in a row. Though earlier a similar verbal agreement was there to share the posts among the two groups, Sardesai-backed group ruled the entire term of five years, commencing from 2015, setting aside the verbal agreement, after gaining three Assembly seats and lending support to form the government in
Goa in 2017.