The people’s enthusiasm, however, didn’t seem to be very high as Margao registered a voter turnout of 66.35 percent – the lowest of all municipalities.
Newly-formed Ward 25 registered the highest voter turnout at 75.46 percent, while Ward 10 recorded the lowest at 57.94 percent. Wards 12 and 24 were the slowest in terms of the speed of voting.
Meanwhile, heated arguments broke out between the workers of Margao MLA Digambar Kamat and Ward 22 candidate Arthur D’Silva after the latter objected to Kamat’s supporters sitting on the road to the booth. The argument went on for over five minutes and ended when the police arrived and chased everyone away.
Ward 22 candidates Damu Shirodkar and Anup Borkar complained of bogus voting and were accordingly directed to speak with the poll officer of the booth. In Ward 11, there were arguments between the workers of Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai and Raju Naik after the latter complained that Sardesai’s men were trying to influence voters by intimidation.
“My ward was peaceful until people like Vijai entered politics and started a Goonda Raj,” said Raju, who is contesting against Sardesai’s Angelis in this ward.
The voter turnout for each ward is as follows: Ward 1 – 62.54, Ward 2 – 67.95, Ward 3 – 64.19, Ward 4 – 64.45, Ward 5 – 64.54, Ward 6 – 67.13, Ward 7 – 69.60, Ward 8 – 71.65, Ward 9 – 66.47, Ward 10 – 57.94, Ward 11 – 71.51, Ward 12 – 63.62, Ward 13 – 68.08, Ward 14 – 63.84, Ward 15 – 66.70, Ward 16 – 68.30, Ward 17 – 71.55, Ward 18 – 62.33, Ward 19 – 67.42, Ward 20 – 66.62, Ward 21 – 61.04, Ward 22 – 67, Ward 23 – 63.45, Ward 24 – 64.60, Ward 25 – 75.46.
