Such an exercise was carried out for first time in State
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MARGAO
Returning Officer for the Cuncolim constituency Shankar Gaonkar granted the request of Independent candidate Joaquim Alemao for the VVPAT slip count after his immediate Congress rival Clafacio Dias was declared elected by a margin of 33 votes. Given that the result was too close, Joaquim made the request to the returning officer for counting of VVPAT slips in four polling stations, a request which was immediately granted by the election officials. It took considerable time for the election officials to take up the VVPAT slip counting, giving anxious moments to the two arch rivals as well as senior election officials. The exercise, however, ended on a happy note for the official since the EVM vote count and the VVPAT slip count tallied, giving a huge sigh of relief for the senior election officials.
“This is perhaps the first time that VVPAT slips were taken up for counting and the vote count of both EVMs and VVPAT slips tallied. Any discrepancy would have created serious implications,” remarked an official.
Incidentally, the Election Commission guidelines mandates the returning officers to go by the VVPAT slip count in the event of any discrepancy in the EVM count.
