the goan I network
PANAJI
Done and dusted as 16,918 (75.25%) of the 22,482 listed on the electoral roll punched buttons on EVMs to choose late Manohar Parrikar’s successor to represent them in the Goa legislative Assembly, this fierce contest for Panaji could go down to the last vote counted.
The deafening silence of a majority and opinions of punters mostly point to the verdict being too close to call as BJP’s Sidharth Kuncalienkar is pitted against Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate of the Congress.
Valmiki Naik of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Subhash Velingkar of the Goa Suraksha Manch who have also hung on in the contest to the end could turn the equation muddy.
According to North Goa Collector R Menaka 16,918 voters exercised their franchise in the 11 hours between 7 am and 6 pm on Sunday. Of these, 10,697 were men and 11,785 women.
Polling was largely peaceful although there were complaints of crowds gathering within 200 metres at some of the polling stations.
In the polling station number nine at the Massano-de-Amorim complex, the EVM unit, including the ballot unit, control unit and VVPAT malfunctioned and were replaced. At two more polling stations the VVPAT machines were also replaced, the Collector said.
Meanwhile, tensions ran high a little after noon, when the Congress side complained of voter-intimidation at Tonca.
Menaka said the complaint of intimidation of a woman voter allegedly by BJP workers was looked into and it was found that she had already exercised her franchise.
A complete enquiry into the episode is being conducted, Menaka said of the incident reported at Dempo Bhat in Tonca, where a significant migrant population resides.
Meanwhile, Monserrate, who has been chargesheeted in a rape case, hit out at the BJP for what he called their attempt to defame him using the case in which the court is expected to pass orders on framing of charges on June 4, during the campaign. He said the matter is for the courts to decide but Panaji’s voter will vote on the basis of the manifesto and his track record.
GSM’s Velingkar also trained his guns on the BJP saying they stooped low to defame him and his family.
“The BJP has gone to the lowest levels to defame me,” Velingkar said, referring to a video of his estranged and reportedly unsound daughter soliciting support for Kuncalienkar, which went viral on social media platforms. Talking to the media outside the Massano-de-Amorim booth after voting, Velingkar said, Panaji’s voters will pay back the BJP.
Panaji, which fell vacant after Parrikar’s death in March, is one of four Assembly seats where bypolls have been held and whose results could have a telling impact on the stability of the BJP-led coalition government of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.
Kuncalienkar on the other hand claimed that voters were set to choose the BJP, as it can provide development.
