from our special correspondent
with pics from Rajtilak Naik
for Daijiworld Media Network - Goa
Panaji, May 5: Panchayat polls went on a peaceful note in Goa on Saturday where 65 per cent voters exercised their right to elect 185 panchayat bodies.
Except isolated incidents, which included death of a voter while he was in a polling queue and a few cases of bogus voting, the electioneering went on smoothly, officials stated.
People outside the polling booth
An electoral officer helping an old woman
The secret ballot
A voter casting his vote
Women enquire about the voting procedure
Voters waiting for their turn to cast their vote
The crowd
Warning posters outside the polling booth
An Old woman is being helped by another woman to go the polling booth
Ballot boxes being brought to the counting station amidst tight security
"The total voting was around 65 per cent," state election commissioner P M Borkar stated little after last time for voting got over. "Entire day was peaceful," he said.
The election commission had to reschedule, an election in a ward in NOrth Goa's St Cruz constituency, where ballot paper erroneously did not carried names of two contestants. "Of the ten, only eight candidates were printed on the ballot paper. We immediately stopped the election process and ordered for re-polling on May seven," Borkar said.
The day began with a scarce voting in all the polling stations. An average of less than 10 per cent polling was reported during initial two hours, which picked up at the later part of the day.
The long queues were seen during afternoon as people bearing scorching sun made their presence to exercise their right to vote. An aged person, in North Goa's siolim panchayat, who was waiting for his turn, fainted and died while being taken to the hospital in the afternoon.
The polling is was held in 851 stations to elect 1,429 panchayat members out of 5,650 contestants. As many as 6.89 lakh voters were eligible to cast their votes for the elections which will decide faces to represent grassroots level democracy in the coastal tourist state.
Interestingly, female voters will hold the key in the election as they outnumber their male counterparts. "There are 3.46 lakh female and 3.43 lakh male voters for these polls, Borkar stated.
The counting will be held for two days begining from tomorrow at two different centres one in each district.
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