MAPUSA
Procedural lapses while sealing the ballot boxes after the end of polling upset candidates in at least six wards in Mapusa.
The situation turned a little tense in four wards of Khorlim-Mapusa after the polling officials allegedly sealed the ballot boxes in absence of the polling agents.
Similar, situation was also reported in Ward 11 and Ward 6 where the polling boxes were sealed in absence of the polling agents.
“In two polling booths in Wards 11 and 6, the ballot boxes were sealed without the presence of the polling agents or the candidates. We raised the issue with the Returning Officer who decided to open the ballot boxes and reseal them again in front of the polling agents/candidates,” said Sudhir Kandolkar, former chairperson and leader of Mhapshekarancho Ekvott.
Social worker and leader of Shree Bodgeshwar Development Front, Sanjay Barde informed that the polling officials in Wards 14, 16, 17 and 18 sealed the polling boxes in absence of the polling agents.
“There was confusion in the polling booths. All the candidates and the polling agents were asked to move out from the vicinity of the booths in the last hour as the Covid patients were supposed to vote. Later, the polling officials sealed the polling boxes without informing the polling agents or the candidates,” Barde alleged.
“Who knows if they have put new ballot papers in the ballot boxes? They know the BJP is going to lose this election,” he alleged.
Sources informed that the RO, Mamu Hage had arranged to open the boxes in front of the polling agents and reseal them again. Efforts to contact the Returning Officer were unsuccessful as she refused to pick up her cell phone. The cell phone of Assistant RO, Laxmikant Kuttikar, was also switched off.
