PremiumThe state government said it will be a ‘paid holiday’, and will apply to industrial workers, daily wage workers of government departments and state government industrial departments, commercial and industrial workers of private establishments
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In view of the upcoming assembly election, the Goa government has declared February 14 as a "Public Holiday". In an official statement, the Government of Goa said, "February 14 to be public holiday being the polling day". It will be a "paid holiday", the government's notification added. The paid holiday will apply to industrial workers in Goa, daily wage workers of government departments and state government industrial departments, commercial and industrial workers of private establishments in Goa, workers of all private establishments, daily wage/ casual workers employed in any business, trade, industrial undertakings or any other establishments.
The single-phase polling will be held to elect 40 members of the Legislative Assembly in the state on February 14 and the counting of votes will take place on March 10. A total of 332 candidates are in the fray for the forthcoming Assembly election in Goa this year. The total nominations received for the Goa Assembly polls this year was 587. Currently, there are four main contenders in this year's poll in the coastal state--the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress Party, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and debutant Trinamool Congress (TMC).
While the AAP and the BJP have declared their CM candidate for the Goa Assembly polls, the Congress party is yet to announce. The BJP has decided to go ahead with the sitting chief minister Pramod Sawant as the party's CM face. Sawant, who is a doctor by profession, has been elected twice from the Sanquelim constituency.
On the other hand, the Aam Aadmi Party has named Amit Palekar as its chief ministerial candidate for the Goa elections. Palekar, a noted lawyer and social worker, recently made the headlines with his hunger strike against the illegal construction at an Old heritage site in the coastal state.
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