TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: Local election authorities are still undecided whether to take up counting of votes in the new South Goa Collectorate building or to carry out the exercise in Vidya Vikas Mandal’s educational institutions at Comba as usual.
In fact, the election authorities have now decided to leave the matter to the election observers who are likely to descend on the state next week to oversee the election and counting arrangements to take a final call.
A senior district official informed that though the District Collectorate had an initial provision for a full floor for counting of votes, the proposal was later shelved by the present government by utilising the space to accommodate government offices. “We still have space available in the new building which can be converted into counting halls. Besides, there’s space on the ground floor and the basement which can be utilised for counting of votes”, remarked the official, but said a final call will be taken by the election observers.
When the new District Collectorate was planned and conceptualised, former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and then District Collector had insisted on making provision for ample space for counting of votes in the new building.
The reason was simple: The election authorities had to hire halls in Vidya Vikas Mandal’s educational institutions during Assembly and Lok Sabha polls as the government Multipurpose hall, Borda, failed to serve the purpose.
Kamat’s successor and incumbent Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, however, decided otherwise. Parrikar reasoned that keeping an entire floor for vote counting once every five years would render huge space unutilised and hence decided to utilise the same to house offices.
“We still have space available in the new building which can be converted into counting halls. Besides, there’s space on the ground floor and the basement which can be utilised for counting of votes”, remarked the official, but said a final call will be taken by the election observers
