VASCO
Allegations that the CRPF had driven away polling agents from a polling station and the indelible ink disappearing from former minister Alina Saldanha’s finger were reported in Cansaulim, but by and large, voting went off without any major untoward incident in the Mormugao taluka.
In Cansaulim, several Congress workers alleged that CRPF officials on duty drove out the polling agents from the St Thomas School polling station. They claimed that the CRPF officers evicted the polling agents from booths 34, 35 and 36 at the St Thomas High School in Cansaulim at around 8.30 am and that, despite appeals by a police official, the CRPF officer refused entry to polling agents into the polling booths.
Former minister Alina Saldanha complained that after casting her vote, the indelible ink got erased with plain water after having a cup of tea. The presiding officer of Polling Booth 36 was immediately apprised of the matter and after due consultation with polling officials, the ink bottle was replaced. But polling was stopped for around 12 minutes till the matter was resolved.
In the morning, however, voting began at a slow pace and party workers took charge to mobilise voters. The voting which began on a slow note in the morning later picked up in the afternoon and a large number of voters were seen in queues at polling booths in Zuarinagar, Upasnagar and different polling booths of Vasco, Dabolim and Mormugao Constituencies in Mormugao Taluka.
