Panaji: Chief minister Pramod Sawant said on Wednesday that the Central Election Commission (CEC) has already sent a letter to the State Election Commission (SEC) regarding reservation of Assembly seats for Scheduled Tribes (STs). Based on this, the SEC has forwarded a report on four constituencies — Quepem, Sanguem, Nuvem and Priol — for reservation.Sawant said the next step is for the CEC to ask the SEC to conduct a public consultation, which is likely to be held in Nov. He added that the final notification on the reservation is expected before Dec 10.He said there is no need for the tribal association UTAA to hold protests in the state, and urged it to refrain from what he described as politically motivated statements.“A letter from the CEC to the SEC has come. They have already sent a report for four constituencies — Quepem, Sanguem, Nuvem and Priol — to the CEC. The process has to be understood and not used to make political allegations,” Sawant said.He said the consultation period would likely run for about a month. Sawant also said people should not be misled, stressing that the election commission is an autonomous body and the process follows set procedures. “It is a matter of pride for me that under me, the people of the soil, the real ‘bhumiputras’ of the state will get their rights,” he said.The CM added that govt and then Centre passed resolutions allowing the Goa ST seat reservation process to move forward, something he said had not been done by previous govts. “Yes, it is the responsibility of the election commission, but it is also my responsibility as a chief minister. Some people do not want to give credit to BJP for giving ST reservation. BJP’s line is clear. Until now, ST status was provided under this BJP govt itself when Manohar Parrikar was the chief minister and Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister,” Sawant said.He also said all schemes for STs were operationalised after Parrikar became chief minister.
