Polling to Ponda, Sanquelim councils passes off peacefully

TEAM HERALD
bureau@herald-goa.com
PONDA/BICHOLIM: Polling to Ponda Municipal Council (PMC) passed off peacefully, sealing the fate of 60 candidates in the fray.
The polling process started at 7 am and ended at 5 pm. Ward 4 of PMC recorded highest percent voting (79.41), while Ward 2 recorded the lowest (62.79). Out of the 15,526 voters, 11383 voted to elect 14 councillors to the PMC.
Barring one incident, the PMC polls were largely peaceful.
According to reports, the incident occurred at about 12.30 pm when supporters of Venkatesh Naik and Roy Naik were reportedly involved in an argument. Both Venkatesh and Roy are the candidates from Ward 4. However, police controlled the situation.
Ponda DySP Dinraj Govenkar along with Ponda PI CL Patil rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation.
Meanwhile, Goan singer Sonia Shirsat returned from the polling booth without casting her vote citing secrecy issue.
“The serial number on the ballot paper was read out by the polling officer and it was also recorded by the polling agents who represent the candidates. It will be easier for anyone to find out who has voted whom when the counting takes place, so where is the secrecy? I wrote my concerns on the backside of the ballot paper and did not vote,” Shirsat told Herald.
When contacted, Returning Officer Johnson Fernandes said the election process is conducted according to the rules and secrecy is maintained. “The ballot numbers which are recorded by the polling officer on the electoral roll are sealed and are kept secret. However, the polling agents are prohibited to write anything on the electoral roll,” he added.
BICHOLIM: Voting to 11 wards of Sanquelim Municipal Council (SMC) passed off peacefully, sealing the fate of 53 candidates.
The polling began at 7 am and there was rush during the morning, as many preferred to vote in the morning. In the evening, the voters turn out was very less. “About 50% voted in the morning and the response was very good,” sources told Herald.
Ward 11 recorded highest voter percent voting with 97%, while Ward 2 recorded the lowest (77).
Speaking to media, both BJP and Congress expressed confidence of claming majority. “We had declared our candidates in 10 wards and are sure to win in at least nine wards,” claimed Sanquelim MLA Pramod Sawant.
“Most of our candidates are hardworking and people from Sanquelim very well know what the earlier council has done and how most of the projects were mismanaged,” added Dr Sawant.
Former Congress MLA Pratap Gawas stated that BJP will meet the same fate as that of Karnataka for this election. “We will win majority in the council and have at least 7-8 candidates. People know that most of the major projects like PHC, Ravindra Bhavan, etc, came up during the Congress rule,” he claimed.
Overall, the elections went on smoothly and there was no untoward incident reported in the area. Deputy Collector Narayan Gad was seen inspecting the situation, while Bicholim DySP Gajanan Prabhudesai and PI Neenad Devulkar also maintained a close vigil along with other police personnel.