Who will be the next MP?
BY HERALD REPORTER 35.92% cast vote in lowest-ever turnout MARGAO, OCT 31 A low voter turnout marked Wednesdays bye-poll for the Mormugao Parliamentary seat, while no untoward incident was reported anywhere in the district. Perhaps for the first time, the Mormugao Lok Sabha constituency recorded a poll percentage as low as 35.92. Sanguem however, recorded the highest poll percentage of 50.63. The fate of former chief minister and Speaker Francisco Sardinha (Congress), former revenue minister Dr Wilfred Mesquita (BJP) and two Independents, will be decided on Saturday, November 3, when the counting of votes will be held, at Margao. In fact, polling began on a dull note across the 21 Assembly segments. The first two hours of polling saw only 50,192 voters turning out to cast their vote a mere 8.96 percent. Only four Assembly segments Shiroda, Curtorim, Sanguem and Poinguinim recorded 10 percent voting. The trend continued for the next two hours with the overall poll percentage touching only 16.31 by 12 noon. Francisco Sardinhas former Assembly constituency of Curtorim recorded around 23.18 percent - the highest in Salcete Taluka till midday. Again, between 12 noon and 2.00 pm, no high turnout was witnessed and the overall percentage of polling till 2.00 pm was as low as 22.38 only 1,25,364 of the total 5.60 lakh voters had exercised their franchise. Serpentine queues were hardly seen, barring a few polling stations. Perhaps for the first time, polling booths at Betalbatim, Colva and Varca did not witness any activity. Only in Rumdamol-Davorlim (Housing Board) that has a presence of the Congress, SGF and the BJP a long queue was seen in the morning session. Very few workers were seen transporting voters to the polling stations. Election tables were put up at many places around Salcete, but the enthusiasm was clearly lacking. Returning Officer Mihir Vardhan told newsmen that the election passed off peacefully. He, however, said that polling was affected at three booths in Madkai constituency after voters refused to cast their ballots. http://oheraldo.in/pagedetails.asp?nid=3644&cid=2 Sanny de Quepem <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
