SATURDAY, MAY 04, 2024
Team Herald
CALANGUTE: Voters from ward No.9 of Cobrawado, Calangute, who enthusiastically went to exercise their franchise had to return home without casting their votes after polling for the particular ward was kept on hold due to a mismatch of the symbols and names of the candidates.
Elections in ward No. 9 of Calangute village panchayat have now been pushed to Thursday, August 11. The ward lists 950 voters.
The error was brought to the notice of the officials when a voter could not find some symbols on the ballot paper. Before the error was noticed, around 16 voters had already cast their votes.
“Some symbols were missing on the ballot paper. We don't know whether this is a printing error or a human error, but this is a big blunder,” said a candidate.“The government should inquire into this because this error has occurred right at the time of voting," he said.
“People left their houses in enthusiasm, in the interest of the ward, but were disappointed because of this blunder. We cannot blame anyone but we would suggest the government tostart the practice of taking the signatures of the candidates on the ballot paper before forwarding it for voting. If nobody had noticed the error, it would been an unfair and unjust election. Now the election has been postponed to Thursday, which is a working day. Several people may not be able to cast their votes,” said former sarpanch Shawn Martin.
Bardez did not reach the voting percentage of 90 for the 2022 panchayat polls. The lowest voting turnout was recorded in Aldona with 67.85 percent followed by Pomburpa-Olaulim with 70.48 percent.
Most of the polling booths in Bardez bore a deserted look between 11am and 3pm. A heavy rush was witnessed at a few polling booths including booth no 4 of Siolim, where more than 30 people were waiting to cast their votes at around 4.45 pm.
