Goa government manipulated delimitation to suit it: Congress

Goa Congress has accused the BJP government of "manipulating" the delimitation exercise conducted ahead of the Panchayat bodies elections to serve its political interests.
The elections for the 180-odd panchayat bodies in Goa are scheduled on June 11.
"The manipulations done by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and his coalition partners during delimitation is nothing but setting an example before the younger generation that politics means only manipulation and autocracy," All India Congress Committee secretary Girish Chodankar said in a statement released here.
He pointed out that the Goa government has brazenly violated the Goa Panchayati Raj Act whenArticle 243 K specifically gives powers to delimit and reserve the wards to the Goa State Election Commission and not the state government.

He observed that Goa State Election Commission has filed an affidavit in the Goa Bench of Bombay High Court clearly stating that it is the constitutionally empowered authority to delimit and reserve wards while government is illegally taking over these constitutionally defined powers.
"People have reacted sharply to the delimitation manipulations even by threatening to boycott the elections since there are blunders of dividing the voters of the same locality and even of the same family in two different wards.

"These are not human errors but deliberate moves to benefit certain candidates of the ruling parties," Chodankar said.
In a similar manner, alleged Chodankar, that the BJP-led government has reserved wards to qualifyor disqualify certain candidates irrespective of the presence of reserved category voters in the locality.

"The government has not followed any transparent criteriawhile carrying out reservation of all categories. In some cases where reservation was not possible, ward numbers were changed to suit the needs of the BJP," he said.
"It is being done in a dictatorial style and arbitrary manner by disrespecting rules, laws and democratic practice," Chodankar added.
He said the government has compromisedon free and fair elections that is the foundation of any democracy.