70.9 % turnout in Taleigao panchayat polls

PANAJI: The Taleigao village panchayat elections held on Sunday saw a voting percentage of 70.9%.
A total of 28 candidates vied for ten seats for the elections. While the BJP supported a few candidates, former Taleigao MLA Atanasio Monserrate fielded a panel of 11 members for the elections. Agnelo Santana Cirilo Da Cunha, the candidate from ward no III was elected unopposed.
The elections were therefore held in ten instead of the 11 wards of the village panchayat.A total of 22 polling booths were set up for the polling.
The panchayat election was a peaceful affair with a total voter turnout of 16,209 people. Of these, 7,845 were male and 8,364 were female.
“The voter turnout this time was much better compared to the previous panchayat elections,” said Pritam Naik, an independent candidate from ward no 10.
“There were no bad incidents whatsoever but one of the opposing candidate’s supporters was inside the 100-metres limit of our desk but we cleared him with intervention of the PRO,” he said.
In a bid to deter any chances of distribution of liquor by contesting candidates to lure voters, the North Goa district collector had issued a notification on Friday under section 144 of CRPC regarding holding of elections to the Taleigao panchayat.
As per the notification, directions were issued to the flying squads, officials of the excise department, police and other authorised officers to keep a strict vigil and also to track the movements of large consignment of Indian-made foreign liquor IMFL and beer in 11 wards of Taleigao.
“There have been no incidents of alcohol consumption or sale. There were no untoward incidents throughout the day, either. The entire process of elections went about smoothly,” said one of the candidates, Sidney Baretto.
The election was held on non-party lines and with the help of ballot papers. Counting of votes will be undertaken on April 29 from 8 am onwards.
Similarly, byelections of ward no 6 of the village panchayat of Ona Mailinguem Kudchirem in the Bicholim taluka was also held on Sunday. The total voters were 619 with a turnout of 90.79%.