Panaji. Voting will be held on Monday to decide the fate of 301 candidates for 40 seats in the Goa Legislative Assembly. Goa, a state traditionally with bipolar politics, is witnessing a multi-cornered contest with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Trinamool Congress (TMC) and other smaller parties competing to make a mark on the state’s electoral landscape.
An election official said that to prevent the spread of COVID-19, voters will be provided gloves at the polling stations. He said that more than 100 women polling stations have been set up in the state for the convenience of women voters. 81 flying squads are active in the state to monitor the elections.
Prominent candidates include Chief Minister Pramod Sawant (BJP), Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat (Congress), former Chief Minister Churchill Alemao (TMC), Ravi Naik (BJP), Laxmikant Parsekar (Independent), former Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sardesai (GFP) Sudin Dhavalikar (BJP). MGP), former chief minister Manohar Parrikar’s son Utpal Parrikar and AAP’s chief ministerial face Amit Palekar.
Over 11 lakh people are eligible to vote. Counting of votes will take place on March 10. Chief Electoral Officer Kunal said that the average number of eligible voters per booth in the state is 672, which is the lowest in the country. He said that Vasco constituency has the highest number of eligible voters at 35,139, while Mormugao seat has the lowest number of 19,958 voters.
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The Congress and the Goa Forward Party (GFP) are contesting in alliance, while the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC has tied up with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) to contest the elections. The Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had also announced a pre-poll alliance, while the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP is fighting the polls without an alliance with any other political party. Apart from candidates from Revolutionary Goans, Goencho Swabhiman Party, Jai Mahabharat Party and Sambhaji Brigade, 68 independent candidates are also in the fray.
Kunal said, “We are committed to ensure that all candidates have an equal opportunity. We are also monitoring the preparations through polling officials.” There are a total of 105 women polling stations, also known as ‘Pink Booths’. The state had recorded 82.56 per cent voter turnout during the 2017 elections. At that time the Congress had won 17 seats, while the BJP got 13 seats. (agency)