The entire BJP-backed panel for the elections to the Corporation of the City of Panaji, floated by Panaji MLA and revenue minister Atanasio Monserrate, submitted its nomination papers on Friday.
The panel, which has outgoing mayor Rohit Monserrate as the leading face, said all issues of the state capital in the last five years were addressed.
Monserrate’s 30 candidates looked set to face a challenge from the ‘Ami Panjekar – Concerned Citizens of Panaji’ panel that a united opposition planned to field.
“We’re not taking the opposition lightly,” said Rohit. “They have good candidates and we also have very good candidates.
People will vote for who they think is the best. ”
Rohit filed his nomination from ward 4, promising a renewed focus on the development and revival of Panaji during the next five-year term.
Former mayor Surendra Furtado remained the lone candidate from the opposition panel backed by Utpal Parrikar to file his nomination papers.
Furtado will contest the civic body elections from ward 9, where he will take on Kabir Pinto Makhija.
Furtado said he was confident that he could contest and win from any of the 30 wards.
Atanasio retained his loyalists and veteran councillors while introducing some new faces for the council hustings.
His panel includes Yutika Zambaulikar (ward 1), Carolina Po (ward 2), Margarida Fernandes (ward 3), Rohit Monserrate (ward 4), Kishore Sastry (ward 5), Bento Lorena (ward 6), Sanjiv Desai (ward 7), Kareena Shirodkar (ward 8), Kabir Pinto Makhija (ward 9), Prasad Amonkar (ward 10), Tukaram Chinanawar (ward 11), Varsha Shetye (ward 12), Uday Madkaikar (ward 13), Prajyot Vaigankar (ward 14), Shayani Chopdekar (ward 15), Asmita Kerkar (ward 16), Dennis Jorge (ward 17), Krishna Shirodkar (ward 18), Nikita Naik (ward 19), Shubham Chodankar (ward 20), Manisha Manerkar (ward 21), Diksha Mainkar (ward 22), Vidhya Gadkar (ward 23), Karan Parekh (ward 24), Kirti Sakhalakar (ward 25), Vasant Agshikar (ward 26), Vithal Chopdekar (ward 27), Rupesh Halankar (ward 28), Sandra Da Cunha (ward 29), and Silvestre Fernandes (ward 30).
Former mayor Madkaikar, who was a critic of Monserrate for the last few years, settled his beef with the revenue minister to join the latter’s panel.
“Rohit did good work during his tenure. A lot of development happened. Yes, some things were slow, but if you look in all four directions of Panaji, the city was developed,” said Madkaikar.
