NT NETWORK
MARGAO
Several voters of Aquem, Margao had to return home without casting their vote at polling booth no 8 as the observer for the Margao constituency, Mansi Nimbhal noted ‘faulty procedure’ on the part of the presiding officer Gokuldas Naik, and insisted on re-polling.
As the news spread out, candidates of different parties contesting the election rushed to the spot to know the reason for re-polling. The officials claimed that due to the faulty procedure followed by the presiding officer, the re-polling was announced.
A source at the polling station informed that “the presiding officer Gokuldas Naik commenced the mock voting, which is mandated by the Election Commission before 7 am in the presence of polling agents of the respective candidates. Fifty such votes were cast, and it was verified with the VVPAT slips. However, he forgot to delete the votes once the mock voting process was completed.”
“He instead continued with the voting process, which went on till 11 am with 192 votes being cast. However, when the votes were counted, Naik got confused looking at the additional votes, which did not match the number of votes cast,” informed the source.
Soon, the returning officer Uday Prabhudesai was intimated, who along with a team of flying squad, sector officers and additional district magistrates rushed to the booth.
The officials wanted to resolve the issue, however, the polling agents of the candidates were apprehensive, and demanded re-polling.
The incident was reported at around 11 am. “I hope the District Election Officer would lay more emphasis on training the presiding officers and the other staff,”said polling agent of Congress candidate Digambar Kamat.
The District Election Officer Swapnil Naik while briefing the media said that due to the technical issue, re-polling at booth no 8 was ordered. The matter was also brought to the notice of the Election Commission.