Counting of votes for Goa panchayat polls underway

PANAJI: The counting of the votes for the panchayat elections in Goa held earlier this week began on Friday morning, which will decide the fate of more than 5,000 candidates. The counting began at 8 am at 21 centres across 12 talukas of the state.

Polling for 186 panchayat bodies in Goa was held on Wednesday. The elections, which were not fought on party symbols, were held through ballot papers. A total of 5,038 candidates were in the fray in 1,464 wards.

A senior State Election Commission official said the election results would start coming in 9 am onwards. As much as 78.70 per cent voter turnout was recorded for the panchayats elections with a total of 6,26,496 voters casting their votes. While 81.45 per cent voting was recorded in North Goa, 76.13 per cent was recorded in South Goa.

Sattari taluka in North Goa recorded the highest voter turnout of 89.30 per cent, while Salcette taluka of South Goa saw the lowest turnout. The election in one of the wards in the Calangute panchayat in North Goa was postponed to Thursday after a candidate complained about a mismatch between his name and the symbol allotted to him, the poll official said.

A total of 64 candidates have been elected unopposed from different village panchayats, of which 41 are from North Goa and 23 from South Goa.

North Goa district has 97 panchayats, with 2,667 candidates in the fray, while 2,371 others contested polls for 89 panchayats in South Goa.

As per the official data, there are 3,85,867 voters in North Goa, and 4,11,153 in South Goa.