PANAJI: There was heavy rush for voting at few booths in Merces, Chimbel and Penha de Franca panchayats with the slight drizzle since early morning hours not deterring voters.
There was no rush at polling booths in Divar and voting was peaceful.
In Indira Nagar-Chimbel, a contestant of ward number 11 Manuel Vaz and a voter Nazir Mulla alleged that money was used to influence voters. They said that the policemen were just mute spectators to what was going on since Saturday night.
Vaz said that the police detained a bouncer who had entered Indira Nagar along with 15 others to influence voters.
Police had a tough time in handling the situation arising out of the bouncer’s visit to Indira Nagar on Sunday morning allegedly to influence the voters.
People came out on the road and blocked the smooth flow of vehicular traffic. There was heavy rush of voters in all the wards.
At the polling booth located in Vidya Prabodhini High School in Penha de Franca’s ward 10, there was a serpentine queue.
The panel floated by local MLA seems to be enjoying the upper hand but the opposition panel belonging to Anurag Gupta and Shyamsunder Kamat expressed confidence that they would come to power.
Senior citizens and handicapped had a tough time in climbing the steps at HSSC board booth in absence of wheel chairs or ramp.
Former sarpanch Vishranti Dessai, helped by her husband Rajkumar Dessai, greeted every person entering the booth.
While Sandesh Mandrenkar who is contesting against her, tried to woo voters to his side silently by standing by the roadside.
At a booth in ward 5 in Merces which is thickly populated there was a rush of voters.
The contestants in Merces were seen standing along the passage with umbrellas and smiling at every voter who entered the lane leading to the booth to cast their vote.
In Divar, there was a good turnout of voters without any rush.