Panaji, May 19 (UNI) Polling in the by-election to Panaji Assembly constituency began in the morning and was progressing smoothly.
According to sources in the office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), 31.48 per cent voting was recorded till 1100 hrs.
There are six candidates whose fates would be decided by over 22,000 eligible voters of the constituency which falls in the capital city. According to office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), there are 22, 482 eligible voters, out of which 10,697 are males and 11,785 females. There are 131 persons with disabilities. Out of the eligible voters, 476 are first time voters in the constituency.
According to sources in the CEO office, there are 30 polling stations in the constituency. District Administration has made adequate security arrangements for peaceful election. Security has been beefed up with deployment of Central Industrial Security Forces (CISF) personnel.
The candidates whose political fates would be decided in the by-poll are Siddharth Cuncalienkar of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Valmiki Naik of Aam Adami Party (AAP), Atanasio Monserrate of Congress and Subhash Velingkar of Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM). Besides there are two independent candidates namely Dilip Ghadi and Vinay More.
Counting of votes would take place on May 23, 2019.
Leaders who caste their votes along with other voters in the morning were GSM President Subhash Velingkar, BJP leader Siddharth Cuncalienkar and Union Minister Shripad Naik.
The by-poll has been necessitated due to demise of former Chief Minister Late Manohar Parrikar. Parrikar who was MLA from Panaji constituency for over two decades had passed away on March 17, 2019.
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