Team Herald

MAPUSA: Polling in Mapusa constituency by and large was very peaceful without any major untoward incident being reported. The voter turnout at most polling booths across the various constituencies in this area in the morning session wore a deserted look, but voting picked up later in the day. There were no major ques seen outside the polling booths in Mapusa but people complained of the polling process being slow. Out of the total 29,212 voters in Mapusa approximately 78.20 % came out to cast their vote. The by-poll candidates from this area preferred casting their votes early in the day. 

The BJP candidate, Joshua D’Souza after casting his vote early in the morning said that he was expecting a high voter turnout and the party was expecting around 10,500 votes in Mapusa.

While the Congress candidate, Sudhir Kandolkar who was a five time councillor and BJP’s Ex-State Executive Member claims victory by stating he will get over 12,000 votes. “The people of Mapusa are enthusiastically coming out and voting. It looks like we have received a good response in Mapusa,” said Kandolkar.

Speaking to Herald the Returning Officer for Mapusa by-polls, Kabir Shirgaonkar informed that there were minor technical issues with the Electronic Voting Machines but on the whole polling was peaceful.

“A total of four EVM’s had some technical issues which were sorted out within a short time by replacing the vvpat with a new one. Approximately 22,680 cast their votes in Mapusa and on the whole polling was peaceful,” said Kabir.