Mauvin Godinho, Panchayat Minister speaking on the delay of the panchayat elections, said, “Our endeavor is to hold the elections soon. But as per Supreme Court judgement on 10 May, we have follow the triple test. All OBC seats (reservation) have to go through OBC Commission and it will take time. After the triple test, we will take legal opinion.”
“If we take the decisions but tomorrow it will go back to the court. It is better we take legal advice and looking as per current circumstances, we can’t decide at the moment,” he said.
He said that they will solicit the advice of the Advocate General and then only then decide on the Panchayat election dates. The file will be sent to AG today. He explained that one has to hold the election before 6 months after Panchayat term ends, and with coming monsoons, it can’t be done.
-Tukaram, Panjim