NT NETWORK
MARGAO
Barring a couple of incidents of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) turning faulty and a faulty procedure forcing re-polling in one of the booths in Margao, voting was overall peaceful in the constituencies of Margao, Fatorda, Benaulim, Nuvem and Quepem.
South district election officer and District Collector Swapnil Naik said that roughly 80 per cent voting has been registered in the district and an average of 75 per cent in the four above-mentioned constituencies.
Except for an incident, which occurred at polling booth number 8 in Margao, wherein polling was cancelled and re-poll ordered, polling in south Goa was carried out peacefully without any major hindrance. Faulty EVMs were promptly replaced at a few other places.
Several voters of Aquem had to dejectedly return without casting their vote as observer for the Margao constituency, Mansi Nimbhal, noted a faulty procedure of the presiding officer and directed the returning officer to announce re-poll at polling booth number 8. The matter has been referred to the Election Commission of India for the finalisation of the re-polling day.
As news about the faulty procedure spread, upset candidates of different political parties rushed at the spot and their election agents demanded to know the reason for the re-poll. Sources at the polling station informed that the presiding officer commenced the mock voting, which is mandated by the election commission, before 7 am, the time when actual voting was to commence. Fifty such mock votes were polled and they were verified with the VVPAT slips. However, the presiding officer forgot to remove the mock voting slips and clean the machine and instead continued with the actual voting process. However, when it was time to total up the slips, the officer got confused seeing the additional slips, as their number was not matching with the total number of votes polled.
At PWD booth in Fatorda, vehicles were seen parked right next to the polling booth, which is not permitted, while the police officials present there remained mute spectators. In Nuvem, a faulty VVPAT machine made voters upset. However, with a flying squad rushing at the spot, the machine was immediately replaced. Voting was, however, delayed by 45 minutes due to the technical issue. Polling booths in Nuvem witnessed a good turnout.
A team of eight CISF personnel was seen guarding the most sensitive polling booth of Monti Dongor in Margao. Though large queues of voters were witnessed at the booth, there was, however, no untoward incident reported and voting passed off peacefully in the area.
In Benaulim constituency, at Khareband, a car was surrounded by hundreds of people. Supporters of BJP candidate alleged that the car driver and other occupant were intimidating voters. Police were immediately called at the site and the CISF personnel too soon joined the cops. The car was checked by the security men and 40 voter slips were found in the car along with Rs 5,000 cash, police said. The matter was referred to a flying squad and the car was seized by the police.
Tension was witnessed at Seraulim as supporters of candidates Churchill Alemao and Caitano D’Silva gathered at a booth claiming the sealing of the EVMs was delayed on purpose. However, the returning officer rushed to the spot and pacified the crowd explaining it that nothing was wrong and that nobody had entered the polling booth. The crowd was convinced after which the members dispersed.
Women voters outnumbered men in most of the Salcete constituencies. Curtorim witnessed some tense moments after Congress and BJP supporters traded blows at each other outside the St Rita west polling booth at Maina polling station. Police intervened and separated the two factions before the situation could go out of control. Sanguem constituency witnessed slow voter turnout as some EVMs turned faulty.
With heavy police force deployed at most of the polling stations, the voting process was peaceful and no untoward incident was recorded in all the four constituencies of Ponda taluka. The only hurdle encountered in Ponda was the failure of VVPAT machines at four booths.