Ballot mismatch in Calangute: Voting halted, poll today

Times of India | 1 month ago | 11-08-2022 | 01:40 am

Ballot mismatch in Calangute: Voting halted, poll today

Calangute: Voting at a polling booth at government primary school, Sauntavaddo, Calangute, for ward no. 9 in Calangute panchayat was stopped on Wednesday morning after it was found that there was a mismatch between the symbols and name of two candidates. The election for this ward has now been rescheduled for Thursday.Calangute MLA Michael Lobo said he was told about the mismatch following which he spoke to the state election commissioner W V Ramamurthy. “I spoke to the election commissioner and he immediately called the presiding officer and directed him to stop the voting immediately, Lobo said. “I told him the election has to be held tomorrow itself as all the other results will be declared on Friday. It should not happen that one side is falling short of one member to form the panchayat body and will have to wait for the outcome of voting in one ward. It's because of that I told the EC the election should be held tomorrow itself. The EC agreed and voting will take place on Thursday,” Lobo said. Former Calangute sarpanch Shawn Martins, a voter from Sauntavaddo who was present at the polling booth, said the mismatch came to light after 16 voters had already cast their vote. “There were a lot of voters here at the government primary school at Sauntavaddo where there are polling booths for three wards in Calangute. It was found at the booth for ward no. 9 there was a mismatch between the names and symbols of two candidates. By that time 16 voters had already cast their vote. When the 17th and 18th voters came they noticed the mismatch and immediately informed the presiding officer,” Martins said. “A lot of people had to go back without voting because of this. The election commission should take this incident seriously and should check the ballot papers thoroughly in future,” he said.

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