81 pc turnout for Pale by-election in Goa

Panaji, Nov 26( UNI) The fate of five candidates was sealed in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) today after polling ended for the by-election to the Pale Assembly constituency in North Goa.

The seat fell vacant following demise of Conrgess MLA Gurudas Gawas.

An approximate 81 per cent of the 22,730 electorate exercised their franchise in 30 polling booths, from 0800 hours till 1700 hours and the process ended peacefully.

The Deputy Collector and returning officer for Pale Assembly constituency, Mr Arvind Bugde said the highest voting recorded is 90.41 per cent in Bayem booth.

The voter ID was made compulsory during voting and police teams were deployed at all polling booths.

The candidates in the fray were Mr Pratap Gawas (Congress), Dr Pramod Sawant (Bharatiya Janata Party), Dr Suresh Amonkar (Independent), former Health Minister, who quit the BJP after denied ticket, Mr Jose Lobo of the Save Goa Front and Mr Rajendra Rane (Independent).

There were 30 polling booths in the constituency, of which four were identified as hyper-sensitive and 10 had been declared as sensitive booths.

BJP Goa Unit President Shripad Naik and Goa Pradesh Congress Comittee( GPCC) and state unit president Subhash Shirodkar claimed that their party candidate will win the seat by a comfortable margin.

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