SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2024
Team Herald
PANJIM: The date has been set. On May 7, the Coastal State of Goa will go to polls to elect two Lok Saabha MPs. Goa is among the 22 States which will have single phase polling. As many as 11,73,028 registered voters including 21,149 first-time voters as of date are eligible to vote for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Addressing a press conference after the announcement of poll schedule by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday, Chief Electoral officer (CEO) Ramesh Verma, IAS said that 11,66,939 voters were registered on the electoral rolls as on January 5 this year but it had now increased to 11,73,028 as of date. Of these 6,04,453 were female voters and 5,68,41 were male voters with a gender ratio of 1063,
According to Verma, the number of voters registered in South Goa district were more than the number of voters in North Goa district, which has 5,77,921 voters. The South Goa has total 5,94,956 voters.
The registration of first time aand new voters had increased by 2.1 per cent even as enrolling of new voters will continue till the issuing of the notification for filing of nomination papers.
There are 12 transgender voters registered, three in North Goa and nine in South Goa. One of the State’s icon is also a transgender.
Also the number of polling stations has been increased by 103 compared to 2019 Lok Sabha polls. There are as many as 1,725 polling stations of which 863 are in North Goa and 862 in South Goa district.
The Goa Election Office will use the Election Seizure Management System (ESMS) Mobile App to digitise data for intercepted and seized items (cash/liquor/drugs/precious metal/freebies/other items) direct from field through Mobile App during Model Code of Conduct in force.
Home voting facility will be provided to 11,640 voters who are 85 years and above and also to Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) with 40 per cent and above disability. Number of PwD voters in Goa are 9,372. The list of PwDs indicating the type of disability has been prepared from the voters list, informed Verma.
Nearly 7,000 police personnel, 14 para-military companies and 38 flying squads will be deployed to maintain law and order and to keep a check on malpractices during the electoral process. Two companies of central armed police forces have already started their field march in the State, he said.
Also 16 control rooms seven in North Goa and nine in South Goa have been set up while, 218 model polling stations including green, those entirely managed by women staff, PwD, youth, etc.
Verma informed that citizen complaints will be addressed within 100 minutes. Citizens can complain through the Citizen Vigil App and the Election Office has to respond to the complaint within 20 minutes and resolve the complaint within 100 minutes. Voter Awareness App has also been launched.
The process of filing nomination papers for Lok Sabha polls in Goa will start with the issuing of notification on April 12 and the last date to file nominations is April 19. Scrutiny of nominations will be held on April 20 and withdrawals will be allowed till April 22.
Additional CEO Sunil Masurkar, joint CEO Triveni Velip, Deputy CEO Prajakta Goltekar and Assistant CEO Sapna S Naik were also present.
