PANAJI
Voters in Chief Minister Pramod Sawant's constituency of Sanquelim seemed to have gone on overdrive on Valentine's Day with the 89.64 percent voting tally in the constituency, beating the state average of 78.94 (provisional) percent hollow.
Addressing a press conference after the culmination of the day-long polling exercise Chief Electoral Officer for Goa Kunal also said that voting was largely peaceful, with 79.84 percent voting reported in the North Goa district, while 78.15 percent voting was reported in the South Goa district.
Kunal also said that while the highest voting percentage was reported in Sanquelim, the lowest tally came in from the Benaulim assembly constituency where only 70.20 percent of the eligible voters exercised their franchise.
According to state Inspector General of Police Rajesh Kumar, no major untoward incident was reported in the state throughout Monday.
“Polling was very peaceful and there were no incidents of violence and no major incidents. There were 38 calls received concerning minor violations of the model code of conduct and minor disputes,” he said.
“Five FIRs have been registered, two of them against people who clicked photos of the EVM when they were voting and later uploaded them on social media,” Kumar further said, adding that 55 companies of paramilitary forces and 5,000 Goa Police personnel had been pressed into poll-related law and order duties on Monday.
Throughout the campaign, the enforcement teams of the poll authority had seized Rs 12.72 crore worth of cash, gold and liquor among other valuable articles, which was expected to be used to bribe voters by candidates.
Kunal also said that 74 instances of model code of conduct violations were also reported in the state during the election campaign.
He also said that 14 control units, 80 ballot units and 12 VVPAT units were replaced throughout the day amid reports of malfunctioning.
301 candidates are in the fray for the polls, where the Congress (in alliance with the Goa Forward party) and the BJP were the major national parties leading the charge, along with other parties like the Aam Aadmi Party, the Trinamool Congress and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party alliance and the Revolutionary Goans.
Referring to a sting which was aired during the silent period (pre-polling day) on a Hindi news channel which showed candidates from the Congress and the TMC showing willingness (in some cases even expecting money) assuring defection from their respective parties in the future, Kunal said: “We have taken action and escalated the matter and a total of 30 social media posts were taken down. A First Information Report has also been registered”.
