PANAJI
The fate of 5038 candidates will be decided as 186 panchayats in the State go to polls on Wednesday. The polling starts from 8 am and ends at 5 pm.
Majority of the candidates contesting are from North Goa with 2667 in the fray in 97 panchayats while 2371 are in the fray in 89 panchayats of South Goa.
Sixty-four candidates have already been declared elected unopposed with 41 getting elected from North Goa and 23 from South Goa. Bardez tops the list with 13 candidates getting elected unopposed with 11 each in Sattari and Salcete.
As per the official data, there are 3,85,867 and 4,11,153 voters in North Goa and South Goa respectively.
The administration has already imposed Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) across the State, while liquor ban has been imposed on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Meanwhile, 12 polling stations in Tiswadi have been identified as critical with five in Chimbel, four in Santa Cruz, two in Corlim and one in Carambolim. In Salcete, there are four critical polling stations, all in Rumdamol-Davorlim.
In Bardez, 12 polling stations have been identified as sensitive with five in Saligao, four in Sangolda and three in Reis-Magos. In Quepem, Ambaulim has two polling stations identified as sensitive.
As for the vulnerable polling stations, Mormugao has a total of 12 such polling stations with Chicalim and Sancoale having six each.
In Bardez, there are three vulnerable polling stations with two in Penha-de-Franca and one in Candolim.
In Salcete, fate of 863 candidates will be decided even as hundreds of polling staff fanned out to various polling booths.
Dozens of sitting and former Sarpanchas, besides sitting and former Panchas and their challengers are in the fray. A total of 11 candidates have also been elected unopposed from Salcete taluka.
Instances are galore of family members in the fray, including a host of husbands and wives, spouses of former MLAs, including Mickky Pacheco, Wilfred D’Sa and daughter of former PWD Minister Churchill Alemao.
Mainstream politicos, including Navelim BJP MLA Ulhas Tuemkar have openly campaigned for the party-backed candidates in the Panchayat areas of Rumdamol, Davorlim and Aquem-Baixo in Navelim constituency.
