Panaji’s josh quite high, over 75% step out to vote

PANAJI : On Sunday, Panajikars came out in large numbers to vote for the third time since 2017 triggering speculations whether this was indicative of winds of change or a continued legacy. The turnout stood at 75.25% when polling came to a close at 6pm, a figure that stood midway between that recorded for the 2017 assembly election and the subsequent bypoll held six months later.
The 2017 assembly elections saw 78.09% cast their mandate while the August 2017 byelection, when former chief minister Manohar Parrikar fought for the seat after resigning as defence minister, recorded 70% turnout.At the Lok Sabha elections held a month ago, the voter turnout in the constituency was 68.58%.

Political observers said it would be interesting to see in which direction the around five per cent increase in voting would go.
On Sunday, 8,799 female voters exercised their franchise as against 8,119 males.
Overall, voting went on smoothly, except for one minor incident at Dempo bhat that saw Congress file a complaint with the Election Commission alleging intimidation of voters by BJP functionaries. At polling booth No. 5, Bal Bharati High School in Ribandar, the entire set of ballot unit, control unit and VVPAT was replaced at 1.45pm.
At two polling booths — No. 6 also in the Bal Bharati High School and No. 9 in the Menezes Braganza building — the VVPATs were replaced at 5.20pm and 11am, respectively.
The constituency had been Parrikar’s fortress since 1994. For the first time since then, Congress was seen at its organisational best in Panaji with party representative making their presence felt at every booth along with their MLAs and senior leaders.
Though there were six candidates in the fray, it was a straight fight between BJP’s Sidharth Kuncalienker and Congress’ Atanasio Monserrate. Besides independents, the other two were former Goa RSS chief and GSM candidate Subhash Velingkar, who chose Panaji — the constituency that was held by his mentee — to make his electoral debut, and AAP’s Valmiki Naik, who was trying his luck in the capital city for the second time.