CSJP submits memorandum to CM on electoral reforms

The Council for Social Justice and Peace (CSJP) has submitted a memorandum to chief minister Manohar Parrikar recently urging him to initiate urgent electoral reforms before the forthcoming village panchayat elections. CSJP members have stated that these reforms are vital in order to make the elections transparent, free and fair.

‘The recommended amendments to the Goa Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 and rules require that the entire election process to the village panchayats – from delimitation of wards, preparation of voters lists till the declaration of election results – should be entrusted to the Goa State Election Commission,’ Fr Maverick Fernandes, executive secretary of Council for Social Justice and Peace, has said in the memorandum submitted to Parrikar.

He also stated that electoral ward maps should be prepared and subsequently reasonable time should be provided to the public for scrutinizing these maps before their final notification. ‘Ward-wise voters lists should also be prepared for village panchayats, giving reasonable time for public scrutiny,’ the Council for Social Justice and Peace recommendations stated.

‘We do hope that your government will ensure that principles of justice and peace will be upheld in the governance of Goa,’ the memorandum said.