Goa polls: State reports record 78.94 per cent voting in Assembly elections

Panaji, Feb 14: Goa on Monday recorded a very high voter turnout of 78.94 per cent in polling for the 40 Assembly seats. The officials said that elections passed off peacefully with no untoward incident being reported from any part of the state which witnessed a multi-cornered contest.

"Goa achieved 78.94% voting. The highest voter turnout was recorded in the Sanquelim constituency at 89.64%. North Goa has registered a maximum turnout of 79% than South Goa at 78%. In today's polling 14 EVM's and 8 ballet were replaced," news agency quotes Goa Chief Electoral Officer Kunal as saying.

Electoral fate of 301 candidates were locked in EVMs which will be opened on March 10 for counting. Addressing a press conference here, Chief Electoral Officer Kunal said the highest voting was registered in the Sankhalim constituency in North Goa at 89.61 per cent, while the lowest voter turnout was 70.20 per cent at Benaulim in South Goa.

He said the overall voting percentage was 78.94. "This is a tentative percentage of voting, while the exact data would be available later," the poll officer said.

Apart from the traditional contenders - BJP and Congress - Aam Aadmi Party, Goa Forward Party (GFP), Trinamool Congress Party (TMC), Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Shiv Sena, Revolutionary Goans Party, Goencho Swabhimaan Party, Jai Mahabharat Party and Sambhaji Brigade are in the fray. Besides, 68 independent candidates are also in the poll arena.

Most opinion polls have indicated that no single party is likely to get a clear majority. Since the last four Goa elections - from 2002 - it was only once that any party crossed the magic figure of 21 in the 40-seat assembly. It was only in 2012 that the BJP managed to achieve that feat. PTI