Goa - Government and Politics

Government and Politics

In the Parliament of India, Goa has two seats in the Lok Sabha, one representing each district, and one seat in the Rajya Sabha.

Goa's capital is Panaji, known as Panjim in English and earlier called Pangim in Portuguese times, and known in the local language as Ponnje is the administrative capital of Goa lying on the left bank of the Mandovi near Panaji. Goa's legislative assembly building is located in Porvorim – the seat of the Goa assembly, which lies across the Mandovi River. The state's judicial hierarchy relates to Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay, which is the capital of Goa's neighbouring Maharashtra state), as the state comes under the Bombay High Court. A bench of the High Court is present in Panaji. Unlike other states, which follow the British Indian model of civil laws framed for individual religions, the Portuguese Uniform Civil Code, based on the Napoleonic code, has been retained by the Goa government.

Goa has a unicameral legislature consisting of a forty member Legislative Assembly, headed by a Chief Minister who wields the executive power. The ruling government consists of the party or coalition garnering the most seats in the state elections and enjoying the support of a simple majority of the House. The governor is appointed by the President of India. The governor's role is largely ceremonial, but plays a crucial role when it comes to deciding who should form the next government or in suspending the legislature as has happened in the recent past. After having stable governance for nearly thirty years up to 1990, Goa is now notorious for its political instability having seen fourteen governments in the span of the fifteen years between 1990 and 2005. In March 2005 the assembly was dissolved by the governor and President's Rule was declared, which suspended the legislature. A by-election in June 2005 saw the Congress coming back to power after winning three of the five seats that went to polls. The Congress party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are the two largest parties in the state. In the assembly poll of 2007, Congress-led coalition won and started ruling the state. In the recent 2012 Vidhan Sabha Elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party along with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party won a clear majority, forming the new government with Manohar Parrikar as the Chief Minister. Other parties include the United Goans Democratic Party, the Nationalist Congress Party.