PANAJI
Response in the by-elections to the three Zilla Panchayat seats held on Sunday was at best lukewarm with less than half the eligible voters turning up to cast their ballot.
The by-polls were held for one seat (Reis Magos) of the North Goa Zilla Panchayat and two (Cortalim and Davorlim) of the South Goa Zilla Panchayat, all three having fallen vacant after MLAs Kedar Naik (Saligao), Anton Vas (Cortalim) and Ulhas Tuenkar (Navelim) quit their membership of the district panchayat body following their election to the legislative Assembly.
All the three ZP constituencies saw poor voter response with an average turnout of just about 46.66%.
In Reis Magos, just 43.94 per cent of the electorate turned out to cast their vote. There was hardly any rush at Reis Magos, Nerul, Pilerne-Marra and Sangolda polling stations.
Cortalim recorded a polling percentage of 45.07 per cent with empty booths being the order of the day.
While the elections began at 8 am at the 22 polling stations in different areas of the constituency like Bogmalo, Cortalim, Quelossim, Velsao and Cansaulim, the first half saw a very less turnout.
In Davorlim, the by-election was by and large peaceful with 50.52 per cent voters coming out to vote, even as BJP top brass exuded confidence of wining all the three seats.
Polling for the Davorlim seat started on a dull note, but picked up later in the day.
There were heated arguments between Aam Admi Party candidate Siddesh Bhagat and his supporters with the police near a polling booth as they alleged that the BJP workers were found assembled within the 200 meter zone.
Counting of votes is slated for Tuesday.
The elections had little political significance barring the fact that it was fought on party lines and it will be a test of popularity for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the MLA trio who had vacated the seats.
The Opposition parties -- Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) -- also fielded candidates and got an opportunity to test their electoral strengths.
For the Reis Magos seat, the result will be crucial for the Saligao MLA, who is one of the eight MLAs to defect from the Congress to the BJP last month. Naik and the ruling BJP have fielded former Pilerne Sarpanch Bandodkar. The Congress has fielded Ms Pednekar while the Aam Aadmi Party is supporting an independent. The RGP too has fielded a candidate but since it failed to get the 'State recognised party' tag from the Election Commission it was not allotted the 'football' symbol it fought the assembly elections on.
Again in Cortalim, the MLA Anton Vas fielded his wife and is being challenged by the candidates of Congress, AAP and RGP. Vas, who is an Independent, has thrown his lot with the BJP government.
In Davorlim, Ulhas Tuemkar, who stunned political pundits by wresting the Navelim seat for the BJP in the Assembly elections, has made the ZP bye-election a prestige matter. The ruling party is again challenged there by the Congress, AAP and RGP.
