|
Goa Church threatens boycott of village panchayat polls
Thursday May 03, 2012 10:19:00 PM,
IANS
|
|
|
|
|
Panaji: The Goa church
has threatened to urge voters to boycott the May 16 village
panchayat polls, if the "controversial electioneering process" for
the grassroot local bodies is not cancelled within seven days.
In a letter to Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar Thursday, executive
secretary of the Council for Social Justice and Peace (CSJP) Fr
Maverick Fernandes said that there was growing "public unrest vis
a vis the controversial process of delimitation and reservation of
wards for the panchayat polls" in over 180 plus village panchayats
of Goa.
"CSJP hopes that the government will take urgent steps in the
right direction to ease the growing public unrest and ensure free
and fair elections to the village panchayats which fits within the
scheme of 'zero tolerance to corruption'," said Fernandes in his
letter.
"Should the government fail to keep the elections in abeyance
within seven days, the public will be left with choice but to
boycott the village panchayat elections," he said.
Civil society activists and members of several village panchayats
have complained about gross irregularities in the hasty
delimitation of wards, as well as creation of reserved wards based
on faulty data.
CSJP has also called the controversial delimitation and
reservation processes as an attempt by the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) led coalition government to manipulate the lections.
Maverick has now called for a postponement by a few months in
order to allow for framing of guidelines for the pre-panchayat
poll exercises.
"The government should appoint a task force to prepare the
rules/guidelines for conducting delimitation, numbering and
reservation of wards within two months," Fernandes said.
The Church in Goa is an influential voice in Goa's socio-political
fabric because of the nearly 26 per cent Christian population in
the state.
|
|
Home |
Top of the Page
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Top Stories |
|
Mamata meets Sonia as Congress seeks UPA
consensus on presidential poll
Congress
president Sonia Gandhi met Trinamool supremo and West Bengal Chief
Minister Mamata Banerjee Thursday as part of the Congress's
efforts to build consensus with its United Progressive Alliance
partners on the coming presidential polls.
»
CPI-M
slams Swaraj for 'inappropriate' remarks on Ansari
Race for Prez: JD (U) differs with BJP;
Kalam gets more supports
|
|
|
|
Most Read |
|
 Zameeruddin Shah likely to get President's
nod as new AMU VC: Report
Lt Gen (Retd) Zameeruddin Shah is
set to be appointed as the new Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim
University (AMU), a media report has claimed.
President Pratibha Patil, Visitor of the University
»
|
|
Sarkozy, Hollande square off in fierce TV
debate
French President
Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist challenger Francois Hollande went
through a fierce verbal battle in a prime-time televised debate
that lasted for almost three hours Wednesday night.
Sarkozy quizzed and mocked at the left-wing frontrunner throughout
the debate and Holland
»
|
|
|
|
News Pick |
|
Caste prejudices hit Bihar's anganwadi
centres: Report
Caste and
religious prejudices in Bihar's villages are affecting the central
government's education and health schemes - such as anganwadis -
for impoverished families, says a report by the Institute of Human
»
|
|
American 'tastes' democracy at Akhilesh
Darshan
For this 25-something US national, the sweltering
heat in the state capital Wednesday was not deterring enough to
wait under a harsh sun, 'slug it out' with teeming thousands as
she waited for her turn to meet Uttar Pradesh Chief
»
|
|
 Tunisian government to level the playing field
for Islamic Finance
Islamic finance in Tunisia is only a recent trend, and one that is
still working through the hurdles to meet the competition in the
domestic banking sector.
In 2009, the Islamic Bank of Zitouna
»
|
|
|
|
Picture of the Day |
|
 |
|
The
massive expansion project of the Grand Mosque, which has
necessitated the acquisition and subsequent demolition of
thousands of properties, has escalated the rate of migration
from the center of the city to the suburbs.
(Photo: IINA)
|
|
|
|
|
Comments
|
Quick links