PANAJI
Valentine’s Day, February 14, will be polling day when Goa’s 11.56 lakh registered voters will get their once-in-five-years democratic right to vote and elect their representatives to the 40-member legislative assembly and their next government.
According to the election schedule announced by the Election Commission of India, the counting will take place on March 10.
Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPATs) will be employed for the process in all polling stations.
Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra announced the schedule at a press conference in Delhi and debarred any physical rallies or large gatherings until January 15, when it will review the surging Covid-19 third wave situation and take a call on the protocols for physical campaigning.
Along with Goa, Chandra also unveiled the schedule for elections to four other States -- Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Manipur.
In Goa, as in Punjab and Uttarakhand, the election notification will be issued on January 21 when the process of filing nominations will begin.
Nomination filing ends on January 28 and scrutiny will take place the next day on January 29. Withdrawals if any will be permitted on January 31.
The Model Code of Conduct (MCC) meanwhile comes into force from the time the ECI made the announcement of the schedule on Saturday afternoon and stays in force until the results are declared.
Chandra said all political rallies, roadshows, bike rallies, padayatras, vehicle rallies or other physical political activities will be banned until January 15 due to the surging COVID-19 third wave.
Also, door-to-door campaigning will be restricted to five persons only, he added.
Goa’s high positivity rate was one concern Chandra mentioned during the press conference which he addressed flanked by the other two Election Commissioners.
After January 15, the situation will be reviewed again before taking the call on permitting campaigning activities, Chandra said while specifically mentioning that the positivity rate in Goa was as high as 30 per cent.
The ECI has also appealed to the political parties and prospective candidates to adopt digital and virtual modes for campaigning.
Meanwhile, all poll staff will be considered ‘frontline workers’ and will be eligible for priority in vaccination with the ‘precautionary dose’, Chandra said, adding that the Commission will also appeal to the electorate to ensure they are fully vaccinated.
“Our cVIGIL application should be used by voters to report any incident of violation of the MCC, including distribution of money and freebies,” Chandra said adding that the Commission has fixed a 100-minute response time benchmark, for officials to reach the site of offence.
