Team Herald
PANJIM: The stage is set for polling in five municipal councils of Mormugao, Margao, Mapusa, Quepem and Sanguem on Friday.
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Also, by-polls will be held in ward 2 of Karapur-Sarvan village panchayat in Bicholim taluka and ward 4 of Velim village panchayat in Salcete taluka.
A total of 1,85,225 voters – 91,519 men and 93,706 women – will exercise their franchise in 231 polling booths to decide the fate of 402 candidates in the fray.
Polling will be held from 8am to 5pm and ballot paper will be used for polling. Also COVID-19 infected voters will be allowed to vote from 4pm to 5pm.
The highest 125 candidates are in fray in 25 wards of Mormugao municipal councils followed by 98 candidates in 25 wards of Margao, 81 candidates in 20 wards of Mapusa, 55 candidates in 13 wards of Quepem and 43 candidates in 10 wards of Sanguem municipal council.
Maximum 11 candidates are contesting in ward 12 of Mormugao municipal council. Also 18 polling booths all in Mormugao have been declared as sensitive booths.
Since the municipal elections are not on party lines, most of the candidates have been backed by various political parties by floating panels.
The polling in these five municipal councils had to be rescheduled after the Supreme Court asked the State government to notify reservation of wards and had also directed the GSEC to complete the entire election process by April 30.
At the same time, the top court had pulled up the State government for appointing a serving bureaucrat and directed to appoint an independent person as the State Election Commissioner.
The polling in other six municipal councils and the lone Corporation of City of Panaji (CCP) were held on March 20.
As many as 1790 staff has been deployed for the polling and all the polling personnel with their polling material reached to their respective polling stations on Thursday evening.
The Goa State Election Commission (GSEC) has urged the voters to wear face masks and to use facilities like sanitisers, thermal scanners and to maintain social distancing as part of assured minimum facilities at each polling station.
Similarly in ward 2 of Karapur-Sarvan village panchayat, five candidates Ajas Hamid Khan, Balchandra Bakre, Premanand Sawant, Rajesh Naik and Siddhesh Tari are in the fray while, it will be a straight between Alvito Fernandes and Simon Fernandes in ward 4 of Velim village panchayat.
GSEC, political parties and candidates have appealed to reach their respective polling stations in large numbers and to cast their vote without any fear.
The Goa police have made elaborate security arrangements in all the polling areas for free and fair conduct of elections.
