Goa, the smallest state of the country, went to the polls on Monday to elect 40 members to its eighth legislative assembly.
In a single phase, 11.66 lakh voters are expected to cast their votes across 1,722 polling stations. There are 301 candidates in the fray from parties, including the BJP, Congress, which is in a pre-poll alliance with the Goa Forward Party, Aam Aadmi Party, and the Trinamool Congress (TMC)-Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) alliance.
Of the 11,64,522 voters, 5.66 lakh are male, and 5.97 lakh female. For the first time, nine transgenders and 41 sex workers have registered as voters in Goa. Of the 1,722 polling stations in the state, 100 are pink polling stations run by women.
The day before the polling saw multiple complaints by the political parties. The Congress and the TMC complained to the Chief Election Officer (CEO) against a ‘fake video’ on YouTube that claimed that their candidates had accepted money from the BJP to switch over after the polls.
The AAP, on the other hand, sought action against the Congress candidates based on the contested video. The Congress also filed an FIR against the editor of the Hindi channel on YouTube.
Of the 1,722 polling stations in the state, 100 are pink polling stations run by women. (Express Photo)
The Congress also said that a letter in the name of Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Girish Chodanakarthat was being circulated on WhatsApp and it was fake. The letter written to K C Venugopal, AICC National General Secretary (Organisation), stated that Congress leaders had opposed the alliance with TMC-MGP. In a tweet, Chodankar clarified that the letter was fake and was being used to “create unrest” a day ahead of polling in Goa. He also filed a police complaint against it in Fatorda.
Goa Forward Party president Vijai Sardesai said on Sunday that his verified Facebook page had been hacked. “Political non-achievers fear failures, and are playing dirty, targeting our social media accounts and pages,” he said in a tweet. He added that he had informed Facebook to take appropriate action.
On Sunday evening, the Congress also wrote to the CEO to not allow cell phones inside polling stations. Goa Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Sunil Kawthankar wrote to the state CEO claiming that some political parties have offered money to people if they show a picture that they have voted for their party.
In the last assembly election in 2017, the Congress had won 17 seats but the BJP that won 13, formed a coalition government with MGP and GFP that had three MLAs each and two independents. In 2019, ten MLAs from the Congress and two from the MGP defected to the BJP in a contested “merger” of the two legislative parties, giving it a full majority of 27 in the 40-member house.