Daijiworld Media Network - Mapusa

Mapusa, Aug 11: Members of Pernem’s Scheduled Caste (SC) community have expressed frustration over the lack of local representation in the reserved constituency and called for unity to ensure a local candidate is elected in the 2027 Assembly polls.

Speaking at a convention in Pernem on Sunday, community leaders said voters must unite to end what they described as a practice of candidates from outside the constituency contesting from the reserved seat.

“In the last 35 years, no candidate from the SC community has been elected from this constituency despite it being reserved,” Adv Jitendra Gaokar said.

Community leaders said Pernem has around 3,500 SC voters and urged them to unite behind a local candidate in the next Assembly election.

Meanwhile, the Gomantak Mahasangh Hitvardhak Mandal has demanded a caste-wise census before implementation of any Scheduled Tribe (ST) reservation in Goa.

The organisation cautioned that taking political decisions without updated population data could result in injustice to the SC community.

“If reservation is given to the ST community before the census is conducted in Goa, it will be an injustice to the Scheduled Caste community,” Gomantak Mahasangh Hitvardhak Mandal president Siddhesh Parwar said.

At the same time, the Gomantak Dhangar Samaj Mandal has intensified rallies across Pernem taluka, calling on young leaders to spearhead village-level campaigns seeking the immediate constitutional inclusion of the community under ST status.