the goan I network
PANAJI/PONDA
In the counting centre at Panaji, excitement ran high as the returning officer staff Sainath Naik tossed a Rs 10 coin to choose the winner after two candidates of ward No 6 of Se Old Goa panchayat received 150 votes each. Many of those present, including the counting staff gasped as he called out ‘tail’ and declared Nilkanth Bhomkar as the winner from the ward defeating a visibly stunned Virendra Raut.
Meanwhile, two wards in Ponda taluka witnessed a ‘tie’ in counting of votes and the election authorities had to opt for ‘lot’ system in one ward, while at other ward, the candidate won by recounting of votes.
In Ward 11 of Veling-Priol Panchayat, after Mangaldas Gaude and Sudhakar Gaude secured 186 votes each, Returning Officer Abhir Hede decided to opt for ‘lot’ system to decide the winner. Luckily, Mangaldas Gaude won the election. In Ward 6 of Tivrem-Orgao, Pratap Volvoikar and Siddharth Gad had secured 88 votes. Here too, Returning Officer Joao Fernandes opted for ‘lot’ system, in which Pratap Volvoikar was declared winner.
However, his opponent Siddharth Gad requested for recounting, in which he secured 89 votes and won. However, after recounting Pratap Volvoikar’s votes decreased to 87.
Later, Pratap Volvoikar lodged his objection stating that he was declared as winner and recounting should not be taken into consideration.
