Election material being carried to the Multipurpose Indoor Stadium at Campal on Friday for Saturday's ZP polls. Captured by : Narayan Pissurlenkar
PANAJI
Nearly 7.91 lakh rural voters will cast their ballot in the Zilla Panchayat elections from 8 am to 5 pm on December 12 in the first electoral exercise amidst the spectre of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The election is being fought on party lines and the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party has fielded the maximum 43 candidates.
The Opposition Congress has 38 candidates while the Aam Aadmi Party has 20.
The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party has fielded 17 and there are also 79 Independent candidates fighting for a seat in the second-tier panchayati raj body.
"We are confident of winning these elections. I have been touring across Goa and there is palpable support for the BJP because of the development projects undertaken by our government," BJP State chief Sadanand Shet Tanavade, said.
The Congress too expressed hope of faring well with Opposition Leader Digambar Kamat saying the flavour of protests Goa is currently witnessing will help his party.
"Goa is going through a troublesome stage and our economic condition is poor. You can see the number of protests against the government. This will reflect in the polls," Kamat said.
Goa has 50 Zilla Panchayat seats, but in Sancoale the seat has been won uncontested and in Navelim, it is countermanded following the death of a candidate.
The State Election Commission has said the machinery is geared up to conduct the polling on Saturday with all arrangements in place.
The Zilla Panchayat elections were originally set to be held on March 22 and campaigning had been completed when they had to be postponed after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Janata Curfew followed by the natiobal lockdown from March 25 to control the pandemic.
