MARGAO
People assembled at the booth and refused the polling officials to take the ballot box to Margao, forcing senior officials to rush to Ilha de Rachol for an on the spot assessment of the situation. They protested against the officials for what they called as improper folding of the ballot paper.
Candidate Luis Oliveira told media that norms mandate the polling officials to fold the ballot paper, first vertically and then horizontally before handing over the ballot paper to the voter. “This norm was not followed in this booth. When we brought this to the notice of the Presiding officer, he corrected the mischief”, he said.
Luis, however, said the same mischief was repeated in the evening session with the officials resorting to horizontal folding of the ballots. “We protested and voting was stopped until higher officials came and the mischief was rectified. Similar mischief also took place in ward No III and IV. Oral complaints lodged were not recorded by the officials”, alleged Luis, contesting from Ward No 5, in his written complaint the Returning officer.
A strong posse of policemen was deployed outside the booth as a precautionary measure. Returning officer Shailendra Phaldesai rushed to Ilha de Rachol polling booth as a precautionary measure to diffuse the situation. It was only late in the evening that the ballot boxes were taken out from the polling booth under police protection. “I had to personally visit the polling booth since there was confusion as the Presiding officer was new to the job”, Phaldesai told The Goan.
