SATURDAY, MAY 04, 2024
Team Herald
MARGAO: Except for a few minor incidents, villages across Salcete taluka witnessed peaceful voting on Wednesday. Interestingly, voters at the polling booths were seen maintaining silence, taking the task of deciding on their new village representatives seriously. When the polls ended at 5 pm, the fate of 863 candidates from the 33 village panchayats of Salcete was sealed in the ballot boxes, and the results will be declared on August 12.
Village panchayats such as Raia, Loutolim, Nuvem, Curtorim, Camurlim, Navelim and Davorlim witnessed long but quick-moving queues, as voters rushed to exercise their franchise during the morning hours.
A few supporters of the candidates, mostly new aspirants, alleged that local MLAs were seen pressuring voters to choose the candidates they fielded.
Similarly, several candidates were witnessed trying their luck by convincing the voters at the last moment.
At Curtorim, voter J. Santano Rodrigues told Herald that his only wish was to see the devolution of power to the panchayat as per the 73rd and 74th amendments of the Panchayat Raj Act.
"We want to see the functioning of the Panchayat Raj in its true spirit. It is now up to the new panch members to take democracy forward at the grassroots level," he said.
Another voter Salvador Dias, 60, said that panch members need to understand that true democracy is at the panchayat level and they must work hard to hear the voices of the people. Philipinha Cardozo, 82, told Herald that she has never missed a single election and she wants the newly elected panch members to work hard for the betterment of the village.
It was a peaceful voting process in the Salcete coastal belt, from Majorda to Cavelossim as the villagers cast their votes for their respective village panchayats. With some candidates linked to political heavyweights such as Sharon D’Costa in Varca, the daughter of former MLA Churchill Alemao in Varca, and Viola Pacheco in Betalbatim, the wife of former MLA Mickky Pacheco, the panchayat elections in the coastal belt is being seen as a test of the clout of the present and former MLAs. There were also many power couples, husband and wife duos contesting, as well as former sarpanchas and ex panchas.
Church squares in the villages were seen full of activity as candidates tried to ensure that their supporters turned up to vote. The voter turnout in the two coastal villages of Nuvem constituency was 69.70% in Betalbatim panchayat and 66.51% in the Majorda-Utorda-Calata panchayat.
The seven other coastal village panchayats in Salcete are located across the Benaulim constituency.
The voter turnout in Seraulim panchayat was 72.59%, 70.60% in Colva; 62.77% in Cana-Benaulim panchayat; 70.42% in Varca; 70.57% in Orlim; 64.92% in Carmona panchayat; and 76.63% in Cavelossim. "At almost all the polling booths in Salcete, voting ended at the scheduled time. All the ballot boxes have been sealed in the presence of the election agents of the concerned candidates," said Returning Officer Laxshmikant Desai.
The long queues across many of the polling booths in Salcete frustrated voters, especially those who had limited time to go and cast their votes. The voters criticised the authorities for not planning for a smoother voting process, and some of them had to make two visits to the polling booth to cast their votes.
The fact that it rained sporadically throughout Wednesday added to the inconvenience that the voters had to face. “Wards 7 and 5 of Guirdolim village had long lines of voters as there was insufficient election staff to handle the load. Moreover, both the booths were set up in the same classroom,” complained Agostine Antao, former Guirdolim sarpanch.
“There were long queues at booth ten (X) of Benaulim panchayat due to slow voting process thanks to inefficient polling staff. Many voters went back home without voting,” said Rudolf Barretto, a resident of Benaulim village.
