71 per cent polling recorded in Panaji Assembly by-election

Panaji, Feb 13: As much as 71.2 per cent of the voters on Friday exercised franchise in the Panaji Assembly by-election, necessitated by Manohar Parrikar's resignation.

Parrikar, former Chief Minister, resigned as the MLA last year after becoming the Union Defence Minister.

The polling gathered momentum by afternoon crossing 50 per cent mark but slowed down in last phase.

The aggregate voting was 71.2 per cent, against the expected 75 per cent.

Joint chief electoral officer Narayan Navti said no untoward incident was reported and the voting was peaceful.

BJP's Siddharth Kuncolienkar, Congress's Surendra Furtado and independents Samir Kelekar and Sadanand Vaigankar were in the fray.

Alongwith police, a company of Central Industrial Security Force had been deployed for security.

During the 2012 Legislative Assembly elections, the constituency had witnessed 77.13 per cent voting.

Counting would be held on March 16 at Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) premises.

PTI