Tale of 2 municipal councils,statures of bigwigs at stake

Panaji: With the announcement of general election for the two prestigious municipal councils — Sanquelim and Ponda -- scheduled to be held on May 5, it would be a litmus test for chief minister Pramod Sawant to grab the lone municipal council in his constituency from the clutches of the opposition. The counting of votes would be held on May 7.
W V Ramanmurthy, state election commissioner said that the poll timings would be from 8am to 5pm. Covid-19 positive patients will be entitled to cast their vote from 4pm to 5pm.
“The Model Code of Conduct shall come into effect from today (Saturday) in the areas under the jurisdiction of these councils,” Ramanmurthy said, adding, “the maximum limit of total expenses for a candidate is fixed at Rs 2 lakh. The election will be held on no party line.”
The nomination will begin from April 10 and the list of contesting candidates would be announced on April 20.
Similarly, it would be interesting to see if the civil supplies minister Ravi Naik retains the hold of Ponda municipal council or not. Around 25,000 electorates will exercise their franchise to elect 12 councillors for Sanquelim and 15 for Ponda, respectively.
At present, Congress-backed Dharmesh Saglani panel is ruling the Sanquelim council. Sawant had defeated Saglani, who was the Congress candidate in the 2022 assembly election.
“Sawant had to perform in the municipal election to prove himself as the undisputed leader in Sanquelim. This time he has the advantage of being the chief minister,” a political observer said.
Sawant has been aiming to keep a hold on the lone municipal council in his constituency. Most of the time Congress was able to dominate the civic body.
The political observer also said that Saglani had a good hold in municipal areas, and it would be interesting to see with whom people in Sanquelim would like to side with.
A political observer said that in Ponda, Naik whose son Ritesh is the chairperson, will have to put in extra efforts to retain the municipal council.
“Ponda municipal election contest will be between MGP and BJP. BJP leaders will have to take a decision whether to forge an alliance with MGP or go it alone despite power minister and MGP senior leader Ramkrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar being in the cabinet,” the political observer said.