TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Ten 10 minor untoward incidents including a stone thrown at a van, arguments between the Porvorim MLA Rohan Khaunte and a flying election squad and people, and polling personnel in a south Goa constituency going about their election duties in surgical masks due to a swine flu scare, marked the 2015 zilla panchayat elections in Goa.
The entire electoral exercise, which many see as redundant, since no real powers are given to ZPs, saved about Rs 3 crore for the government since ballot papers which were used in the Wednesday poll incurred a cost of just Rs 2 crore, compared to Electronic Voting Machines which cost over Rs 5 crore.
Voting began at 8 am under the watchful eyes of 2000 Goa police personnel deployed at the booths and who were patrolling. But hardly any large crowds were seen at a time, at most booths, even as the 2015 ZP election recorded a 12% higher voting percentage compared to 2010.
At the Santa Cruz polling station, people were seen entering and exiting the polling booth in a matter of minutes. One college student residing in the area said she had initially thought of not voting, but a sense of duty forced her to cast her vote. “It was an unexpected holiday and I had planned to spend it at home, but I realized that it was my duty to vote,” she said. She was joined by her sister and parents who walked in and out of the polling booth in minutes.
Steady crowds were seen at polling booths in Taleigao. Some, however, complained of the BJP initiative of conducting the elections on party lines and termed it unnecessary and a waste of time. “It doesn’t serve the purpose of the panchayat that is supposed to be for the people and not for the power of a particular party,” said one youngster outside the Taleigao polling station.
When questioned, an elderly woman at the Taleigao booth commented, “I expected a bigger crowd, but was surprised to find only a few people.”
In fact after the scheduled 5 pm close, there were hardly 20 people in line at a couple of booths across the State, including the one at Dharbandora.
Responding to the polling staff using face masks, State Election Commissioner Dr M Modassir told media, “We have provided all poll personnel in the area with masks. Some with two. They have gone about their work with that.”
He also said that there were no complaints as such but some minor unsavoury incidents and there was nothing that the poll machinery had not been able to handle.
Most polling booths had a maximum of four police personnel on duty, while sensitive booths in both the districts were given additional force to thwart possible attempts to create law and order problems.
“The voting was by and large peaceful except for a few untoward incidents. Besides the patrolling, senior officers were personally supervising the security at every booth in their respective jurisdictions,” Inspector General of Police Sunil Garg told Herald.
The department had earlier carried out a meeting to comprehensively chalk out a proper security plan, especially at sensitive booths in Chimbel, Taleigao, Reis Magos and other locations.
A senior officer said that the control room was briefed about passing on the information to concerned officers in case it received any calls of law and order problems.
“We have maintained record of security at every booth with updates till the voting ended in the evening,” he said.
