MARGAO
Technical glitches in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) at a couple of polling booths in Salcete briefly halted polling in the morning session.
Complaints rent the air at many booths at Manora-Raia, Sirlim and other places wherein voters claimed the VVPAT slip was not visible.
There were also reports of slow pace of voting at many places, with the district election authorities attending to the complaints by deploying additional staff to the polling stations.
At booth No. 24 at Davorlim village in Navelim Assembly segment, polling was halted for over half an hour due to issues over the EVM’s battery. Voters were left stranded in the queue for over half an hour as the polling officials anxiously waited for the technician to replace the battery.
Polling at a booth at Fatorda in the Benaulim segment was halted, again due to issues over the EVM’s battery. Officials rushed to the polling station to replace the battery as voters stood in a queue to cast their votes.
Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas along with former Varca Sarpanch Jose Afonso questioned the delay in replacing the battery of the EVM, saying people have been standing in a queue for over half an hour.
The Benaulim MLA demanded to know why this is happening in the Benaulim Assembly segment, demanding that the election authorities will compensate the voters by extending the time lost by halting the polling.
At Raia, a group of voters claimed that the VVPAT slip was not visible after they had cast their vote, claiming that they had brought the matter to the notice of the polling officials.
Velim MLA Cruz Silva pointed out that a similar situation was brought to his notice at Sirlim wherein a voter complained that the VVPAT slip was not clearly visible.
