Panaji (Goa): A day after the Goa bench of Bombay High Court directed the Goa government and State Election Commission (SEC) to hold the Panchayat polls by June 12, the State Election Commission has proposed holding the polls on June 11 being a Sunday.

“We are all set to hold the polls on June 11. We had suggested to holding polls soon after the tenure of the Panchayats end on May 26,” said State Election Commissioner R K Srivastava.

The High Court, which is simultaneously hearing two petitions challenging the delimitation of the wards by the Directorate of Panchayats and Directorate of Municipal Administration, and another challenging the delay in conducting the polls, had slammed government for delaying the process of delimitation of Panchayat areas. The government, represented by Advocate General Dattaprasad Lawande then submitted justifying the delay was due to the election code of conduct for 2017 State Assembly polls.

Panchayat department has assured to complete the delimitation by Friday in its affidavit-in-reply to the bench. Ten village Panchayats in the north and six in South district have witnessed increase in the number of wards.

Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had earlier proposed holding the polls on June 25 but preponed to June 17. The canvassing was also reduced to 10 days. The delay, he cited was because majority of government employees were on leave during the summer holidays of their children and the State witnessed a series of bureaucratic reshuffle in the last few days. Similarly, busy schedule during the State Assembly election period from January 4 till the announcement of the results on March 11 was another reason. “The voting percentage will go down if elections are held during this period,” he had said. On the other hand, the SEC had proposed holding election on a Sunday after the Panchayats’ five year term ends on May 26 to ensure good turnout.

While disposing off one of the two petitions on Wednesday, the court directed holding the polls by June 12. Another petition will be heard after the vacation in June.

Team TNV