Panaji, Mar 20 (IANS): Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant late on Thursday announced that the March 22 Zilla Panchayat polls had been postponed to March 24, because of a clash of dates between the elections and PM Narendra Modi's "Mann ki baat" announcement to hold the "janata curfew" on the same day.

"Respecting the appeal made by Hon. PM for 'Janata Curfew' on March 22 & in the interest of wider participation of electorate in the Zilla Panchayat elections, the state government in consultation with the SEC has decided to postpone the ZP Polling date to March 24," Sawant tweeted after a meeting with the State Election Commissioner R.K. Srivastava at his official resident late on Thursday.

The Opposition had chided Chief Minister Pramod Sawant for going ahead with the Zilla Panchayat elections, despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, with Opposition MLA Vijai Sardesai even calling for a boycott of the Zilla Panchayat polls.

A total of 1,237 polling booths spread over 50 constituencies will stage the upcoming ZP polls, in which 203 candidates are in fray. As many as 8.91 lakh voters are eligible to cast ballot in the upcoming polls.