Efforts on to set up delimitation commission for Goa assembly seats ST quota: CM Sawant

Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has said that efforts are on to form a delimitation commission before the upcoming Lok Sabha polls for reservation of some of the Goa assembly seats for the Scheduled Tribes (ST) community members.

Talking to reporters in Porvorim near state capital Panaji on Monday evening, Sawant said he would make detailed statement on the issue in the House on Saturday during ongoing budget session.

As of now, no seat in the 40-member Goa assembly is reserved for the ST community, one seat is reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SC) community.

The ST community has been demanding that four out of the 40 seats in the Goa assembly be reserved for them during the 2027 state polls.

The community members held a protest in Panaji on Monday after which the chief minister met a group of their leaders.

"A delegation of the ST leaders met me. I have given them the assurance," Sawant said.

He said the file on the issue of reservation of seats in the Goa assembly is pending with the central Tribal Affairs Ministry, from where it has to be moved to the RGI (Registrar General of India) and then after an approval from the Union Home Ministry, the delimitation commission will be formed.

"Even during my last visit to the Union home minister, I had told him that we should form the delimitation commission and give them (ST community) the reservation in the 2027 elections," Sawant said.

The state government's stand is very much clear on the matter, he said.

"On Saturday, I will present the factual position in the House," he said.