-- Samir Umarye *BICHOLIM*: Calangute voters may have been lucky with the postponement of their panchayat polls, but there is no such respite for voters affected by controversial delimitation in panchayats across Bicholim taluka.
0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; text-align: justify; font-size: medium; ">In one such panchayat, confusion and controversies have plagued Wards 10 and 11 at Karapur-Sarvan panchayat and many voters of these two wards are still clueless on the identity of their ward. Many voters are seen frantically calling on their sitting panch or aspiring candidates to verify which ward they were placed in, while some others confronted authorities for splitting their family into two different wards. Earlier consisting of 10 wards, Karapur-Sarvan panchayat was allotted the 11th ward during the 2007 panchayat elections. “The delimitation has effected gross changes in the electoral roll of wards and most voters are still unaware in which ward they have to vote,” remarked Shraddha Umarye from Ward 11. “It is surprising that my name has figured in ward 11, while my husband’s name and names of my entire family are in Ward 10.” Aggrieved voters have blamed the panchas, panchayat secretary and others for the confusion in the delimitation of wards. “It just seems that the panch member, secretary or some official has put all favourable voters in a particular ward. A panch member has now fielded his wife in the same ward, where he got elected earlier, while he is trying his luck in another ward,” suspected Abhay Vaze, an aspiring candidate from Ward 10. The controversial delimitation has interchanged more than 60 families from one ward to another. “During the last elections, we were in Ward 11 but now I am in Ward 10. About 40-50 persons from our ward are affected due to this delimitation and many of them have been separated from their own families,” said Vaze. The delimitation has not only separated husband and wife as well as brother and sister, but in one case, aged parents are put in one ward while their son and daughter-in-law are in another. Aditya Pilgaonkar of Govindnagar-Karapur has been put in Ward 11, over a kilometer from his house, while his family is in the voters list of Ward 10. Aware that little can be done to rectify the anomalies in the voters list, angry voters have demanded action against those who are guilty of causing the confusion. “We demand that the government should initiate an inquiry in the matter and should punish those involved in this mess,” insisted a voter of Karapur.