PANAJI
The North Goa Assembly segment comprising the capital city Panaji logged the lowest number of voters, in terms of a percentage of the total electorate in it, who turned up at polling booths to get their index finger inked by casting their votes.
Many, specially 'karyakatas' and supporters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are blaming this low turnout scenario on the troubles faced by residents due to the chaos unleashed by the continuous execution of 'smart city' projects over the last two years.
"Look at what the state of our city has become. Many people are angry and have not come out to vote to sort of register their protest," said a popular city restaurateur who is known to be a BJP supporter.
Even in the booths of the capital city's BJP fortress running alongside the Atmaram Borkar road and Dada Vaidya Road recorded below par voting turnout.
Although final voter turnout figures have not officially been released, the last estimates issued by the Election Commission at 5 pm, an hour before voting closed, pegged Panaji's voter turnout at 67.26% when almost every other assembly segment had breached the 70% mark.
Campaigning in the capital city by both the BJP's Shripad Naik as well as the Congress' Ramakant Khalap had been low key.
While Khalap did make it to Panaji for a few hours on Friday and Saturday last week, Shripad, his camp said has relied on the campaigning done by the party's Panaji mandal and the camp of Revenue Minister Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate, who is the local MLA and politically controls the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP).
