The voters came steadily all through Tuesday, pacing their time to avoid the heat, but determined to select their two representatives to the Lok Sabha. By late evening, figures released by the Election Commission of India pegged the voting percentage at 74.27.
They will now have to wait till June 4, 2024, to know whether it is Shripad Naik of the BJP or Ramakant Khalap of the Congress in the North, or whether it is Pallavi Dempo of BJP or Captain Viriato Fernandes of the Congress in South Goa, who goes first past the post.
Voting in some constituencies started early, picking up pace till midday, slowing down towards the afternoon. As early as 11am, the Election Commission had pegged the voter turnout at 31.94 per cent.
As the day grew older, the voting percentage graph kept climbing, maintaining a steady curve, with North Goa recording a voter turnout of 61.28 per cent by 3 pm and South Goa recording 61.50 per cent and the overall percentage being 61.39.
The turnout in South Goa, released at 5 pm, indicated that voting in the eight Salcette constituencies was just below 70 per cent, with Cuncolim recording the highest – 70.96 per cent.
Canacona in South Goa recorded the highest turnout of 76.82 per cent till 5 pm and Vasco the lowest with 66.25 per cent. The lowest in Salcette was Velim with a turnout of 66.37 per cent.
In the North, Sankhali, the Assembly constituency represented by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant recorded the highest voter turnout of 84.05 per cent till 5 pm and the lowest at 65 per cent, was Panjim, the constituency represented by BJP MLA Atanasio Monserrate.
The constituencies in the northern coastal belt recorded turnouts of over 70 per cent with Mandrem topping the list with 75. Siolim saw a turnout of 73 per cent and Calangute 72.55 per cent.
The election was peaceful through the day with a few murmurs of discontent floating through social media at various intervals, but none had the poison to derail democracy.
A BJP MLA claimed through social media that he, “had evidence that the Catholic Church had asked its devotees to vote for a particular party,” but his statement was met with hogwash.
“I am aware that the Swami of Partagali Mutt has also issued instruction on who the devotees should vote for and I am sure the Maulana must have done the same. It is sad, that our politicians are using religion,” quipped a lady going by the name of Supriya who was sipping tea after having cast her vote and discussing election social media trends with her colleagues.
High voter turnout, according to psephologists, indicates change. The turnout in 2019 was 77.05 in North Goa and 73.31 in South and Tuesday’s turnout of 74.27 per cent at 6 pm may well indicate which way the winds have blown.
In segments there was evidence of how people were voting. For instance, in the early part of the day, voters in the northern coastal belt, appeared to have come out in rebellion against the government for ignoring their repeated complaints against noise pollution and a surge of uprisings in the south with fear that the government has no place for the minorities.
It was also evident of where the parties had their strengths. Many election booths in North Goa were manned by BJP volunteers only and in the south they were manned by volunteers from the INDIA bloc and the absence of volunteers from other parties evident.
There appeared to be a shift or split of votes in North Goa with the Congress appearing to be the beneficiary and the anti-incumbency factor dragging BJP’s Naik a bit.
In South Goa, Salcette appeared to have been scratched a little but not dented, with the Congress – despite the jump by eight of its MLAs – appearing set to retain its hold over a Parliamentary constituency it has lost to the BJP only twice.
The old and handicapped were seen coming to cast their vote right through the day in booths all over Goa with all parties leaving nothing to chance. “It is not a question of who I am going to vote for but my right to vote,” expressed Vince from Cavelossim.
A packaged lemon based soft drink was made available at most polling stations across Goa with voters seen quenching their thirst before or after having cast their vote. However, there appeared to be no arrangement made to store the used empty bottles.