the goan I network
PANAJI
Call it the ‘festival of democracy’ or simply the citizens’ power in a democracy, the voting populace of Goa responded quietly but surely.
Braving scorching April heat, they made their way to polling booths and cast their votes in large numbers to elect their two Members of Parliament in North and South Goa.
Also, in the three Assembly constituencies of Mandrem, Mapusa and Shiroda, voters simultaneously exercised their franchise to elect MLAs in by-elections which could impact the stability of the State government.
After a slow start when voting began at the 1,652 polling booths across Goa at 7 am on Tuesday, the trickle of voters to the the polling booths turned into streams by mid-morning though the pace slowed down again in the afternoon, perhaps owing to the summer heat.
According to Chief Electoral Officer, Kunal, the total voter turnout for the State in the parliamentary election was 73.2 per cent with North Goa recording 76.4 per cent and South Goa achieving a 72.89 per cent turnout.
Kunal said, EVM machines which faced glitches were replaced and polling did not face any major hindrance on this account. A total of 14 balloting units (0.85%), 25 counting units (1.51%) and 40 VVPAT (2.42%) were replaced during the ‘mock poll’ which is conducted at every polling station as a mandatory process to certify the EVMs are good to conduct the poll.
During the actual polling for the two Lok Sabha seats, 10 each of balloting units and counting units (0.61%) were replaced and 29 VVPAT (1.76%) were changed due to malfunction, Kunal said.
During actual polling for the by-elections in Mandrem, Mapusa and Shiroda, none of the balloting and counting units required replacement but 2 VVPATs were replaced.
All the candidates of the major political parties, including four-term MP and AYUSH minister, Shripad Naik, his challenger GPCC president, Girish Chodankar, former chief minister Francisco Sardinha and outgoing MP, Narendra Sawaikar cast their votes early in the morning.
As CEO Kunal said, there were several cases of EVM malfunction in various parts of North and South Goa and only the Congress and the Aam Aadmi filed complaints over these glitches.
AAP candidate Elvis Gomes Tweeted in the morning claiming that in the mock poll in a booth in his native Cuncolim assembly segment, though 9 votes were cast for each of the six candidates, the results showed 18 to the BJP, 9 to the Congress, 8 to AAP and 1 to Independent.
Gomes’ tweet was shared by AAP chief and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal with the comment: “Why do faulty EVMs always vote for BJP?”.
The tweets sent the CEO Goa who’s official twitter handle was tagged by Gomes and Kejriwal, in an overdrive for damage control and the machine was totally replaced before polling could begin in that booth.
“Entire set of EVM has been replaced for AC 34, PS No 31
