PANAJI: The state legislative wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party, on Friday, demanded that the government immediately declare the wards of various municipal areas around the state, as per the existing reservations for candidates including 33 per cent reservation for women candidates and 19.5 per cent reservation for OBC candidates, in view of the municipal elections scheduled next month.

The spokesperson of the legislative wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Fatorda MLA, Mr Damodar Naik addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters said that just over a month remains for the municipal elections in the state and till date, no notification has been issued in this context.

"Furthermore, the new voters’ lists issued by the mamlatdar offices to various municipalities have a number of discrepancies in them, including failure to include the names of the youth voters, who have turned 18 recently," he stated, pointing out that no grievances cell exists till this point of time, which would have allowed the voters to lodge their complaints about the voters’ lists.

The persons desiring to contest the municipal elections are in total confused state, due to this situation, Mr Naik said, adding that the Congress party, through all these manipulations, including delay in declaration of reserved municipal wards, and wrong voters’ lists, is ensuring victory for candidates supported by it.

He also noted that the municipal wards should have been demarcated by way of their geographical boundaries, as presently many houses have one of its parts in one ward, while other part in a different ward.

Replying to a question, the Fatorda MLA said that the decision as to whether the BJP would support some candidates at the municipal election or not, would soon come from the state legislative wing of the party and the state party unit.

He also expressed confidence that the BJP would win the Valpoi by-election scheduled
next month.