Panaji, Mar 21: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has drawn the ire of the Opposition with the last-minute postponement of the mayoral election at Corporation of City of Panaji (CCP) yesterday.
The Opposition MLAs stalled the proceedings in the Legislative Assembly over the issue in the morning, and a Congress-led delegation of MLAs later met Governor B V Wanchoo, bringing to his notice "the undemocratic way" in which the election was postponed.
The election for the post of Mayor and Deputy Mayor was scheduled yesterday. But Commissioner Sanjith Rodrigues postponed it at the last minute, on the directions of State Urban Development Ministry.
Before the postponement, CCP, which has a BJP majority, had seen a few BJP corporators switching the loyalties.
Parrikar defended the decision citing CCP Act 2002, under which the election for Mayor has to be held at the first meeting of the year, yet to be held.
But Congress legislator Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, who headed the protests in the Assembly, demanded the chief minister's resignation.
"We demand Chief Minister should resign on his own. He should hang his face in the shame," Lourenco said at a press conference.
"The election cannot be postponed once the process has started," Lourenco said, citing Supreme Court directives.
NCP too attacked Parrikar over the issue. Its spokesperson Trojan D'Mello said that the chief minister was trying to "fool around with the minorities" by postponing the election, because Surendra Furtado, a minority community member, was tipped to become the Mayor.
