Margao, May 26 (TOI): Former Nuvem MLA Francisco 'Mickky' Pacheco on Thursday accused chief minister Manohar Parrikar of 'acting illegally regarding the reservation and delimitation of the panchayat wards' at the behest of his two alliance partners, Goa Forward Party (GFP) and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP). He also sought that the forthcoming panchayat elections scheduled for June 11 be postponed.

Speaking to mediapersons, Pacheco alleged that the delimitation and ward reservations were done to satisfy supporters of the ruling party politicians and said, "Due to the illegal functioning of the Goa BJP-led coalition government, the Bombay high court at Goa had to intervene and order a stay on the panchayat polls process a day prior to the last day of filing nominations."

Former rural development agency minister in the previous BJP government, Pacheco sought to know when GFP and MGP will get merged with the BJP and criticised the reservation of wards in village panchayats such as Betalbatim, Verna and Nuvem villages. In Pacheco's former constituency, Nuvem, he claimed that no survey was done of the scheduled tribe (ST), scheduled caste (SCs) and other backward communities (OBCs) population.

"The two wards of Dhulape and Kirbhat in Nuvem have been reserved for OBC despite Nuvem being a largely ST-dominated village and there are only two OBC families residing in these two wards. Betalbatim has seven wards, but three wards have been reserved for OBCs despite there being hardly three or four OBC families in the village. This has crushed aspirations of those seeking to contest the polls," he added.