Administration

For administrative purposes Goa is divided into two districts; North Goa and South Goa, with two separate headquarters and 6 subdivisions.

The state comprises of 11 talukas with 15 towns and 429 villages. Goa's villages are split into panchayats. Each panchayat has a number of wards, each of which can elect one panch (member) to the panchayat.

Elections take place by secret ballot every five years and the candidates are local residents who, if successful, carry out their duties in their spare time. The members of the panchayat elect a sarpanch (leader).

Goa has a Legislative Assembly of 40 members. The state assembly used to meet in the historic Secretariat Building in Panaji. But since the last few years, the fabulous new Assembly complex, just across the Mandovi is the new meeting place of Goa's legislators.

Elections for the 40 member state government are staggered so as not to coincide with the panchayat elections. Typically, five or six panchayats are grouped together and the electoral district returns a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). Elections are held every five years.

The SecretariatThe assembly elects a Chief Minister, sometimes a deputy chief-minister
and other ministers who form the cabinet.

The Government is headed by the Chief Minister and the Central Government is represented by the Governor.

The Chief Minister is free in almost all matters of policy but he and the assembly are answerable to the state Governor, appointed by the president of India.

Goa is represented in the Indian Parliament in New Delhi, by two Members of Parliament (MP) in the Lok Sabha (House of the People) and one in the Rajya Sabha (Council of States). Elections to these are also held once in five years.