Panaji, Holiday mood may have dampened the voting spirit in Goa, poll officials said, as the coastal state polled a relatively low 72.04 per cent (provisional) voting for the two Lok Sabha seats and 78.95 per cent voting for the three assembly bypolls which where held on Tuesday. There were minor EVM hiccups, officials said.
According to Chief Electoral Officer Kunal, the North Goa Lok Sabha seat saw 73.92 per cent voting, while 70.15 per cent voting was recorded in South Goa, while the Mandrem, Shiroda and Mapusa bypolls saw 81.61, 90.09 and 75.17 per cent voting respectively.
In comparison, during the 2014 general election, North Goa saw a voting percentage of 78.64 per cent, while 75.17 per cent voters cast ballot in South Goa, taking the total state voting percentage to 76.86 per cent.
Both the Congress, as well as the BJP have expressed confidence of sweeping the two seats up for grab in the general elections and three assembly bypolls.
After estimating nearly 80 per cent voting a day earlier, Kunal on Tuesday said, that the slump in voting percentage was possibly on account of eligible voters opting for a holiday, other than taking time to cast ballot.
When asked about the reason for the drop in the vote percentage, Kunal said: “Maybe holiday season. There was a long weekend kind of thing”.
While the final vote tally, as well as count of votes polled in every constituency assembly segment is awaited, voting percentage saw a relative drop in the state’s mining belt, where a large section of the residents have expressed displeasure at the inability of the BJP-led governments, both in the state as well as the Centre, to restart mining, banned by the Supreme Court last year.
Polling in Goa was also marred by several reported instances of EVM malfunctioning.
EVMs at a polling station in Cuncolim assembly constituency in South Goa had to be replaced after discrepancies were reported, Kunal said, adding that cases of EVM malfunctioning were minimal.
The decision to replace the EVMs at polling number 31 was taken after Aam Aadmi Party’s South Goa candidate Elvis Gomes complained to the Election Commission.
“During polls 11 control units, 11 ballot units and 35 VVPATs were replaced,” Kunal said.
A dozen aspirants are in the fray for two Lok Sabha seat, North Goa and South Goa, and 16 candidates are contesting the three assembly bypolls from Mapusa, Shiroda and Mandrem constituencies. As many as 11,36,113 voters were eligible to cast ballot in Goa’s Lok Sabha and state assembly bypolls.
Among the key contestants for the general election, four-term BJP MP and Union Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Naik took on state Congress president Girish Chodankar for the North Goa seat, while in South Goa sitting BJP MP Narendra Sawaikar contested against former Chief Minister and Congress candidate Francisco Sardinha.
In the bypolls, which are key to secure the future of the Pramod Sawant-headed BJP-led coalition government, the saffron party was in for a shock following the open defiance of former Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, who openly dissed his party candidate Dayanand Sopte, who represents the BJP from Mandrem assembly constituency.
“By-elections are forced on people and they do not like it. The common man is angry and is likely to express this anger by voting against the candidate who has forced the bypoll. But overall, there is an impression for the Lok Sabha polls is that people want Narendra Modi back,” said Parsekar, who has represented the Mandrem seat on a BJP ticket since 2002.
Sopte’s main challengers are Congress’ Babi Bagkar and independent candidate Jeet Arolkar.
In the Mapusa bypoll Congress’ Joshua D’Souza, son of former deputy Chief Minister late Francis D’Souza whose death necessitated the bypoll faces a tough challenge from Congress’ Sudhir Kandolkar, while in the Shiroda assembly bypoll, BJP’s Subhash Shirodkar, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party’s Deepak Dhavalikar and Congress’ Mahadev Naik are engaged in a tri-corner contest.
State BJP president Vinay Tendulkar said the BJP would win all the five seats, because of the faith the voters of Goa had in the party’s state unit, as well as the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“We are confident of a victory. The people of Goa know they need Modi ji to lead India and the BJP to lead Goa,” Tendulkar said.
State Congress president Girish Chodankar on the other hand said, that the BJP would face a 5-0 rout.
“As far as the Lok Sabha elections are concerned, the BJP has failed to raise issues related to Goa in Parliament, like the mining ban which has affected thousands of people. The by-elections have been thrust on the people of Goa, so that the BJP clings to power. The people will reject them,” Chodankar said.
