Lok Sabha polls: Goa sees long queues at its booths

Panaji: Long queues formed on Saturday at polling stations across Goa where balloting is being held in both its Lok Sabha constituencies. Nearly 13 percent of Goa’s 1,057,499 voters cast ballot within the first two hours since polling started at 7 a.m., officials said. Nearly 65,000 people cast their ballot for the North Goa seat by 8.45 am, according to poll officials. In South Goa, 65,364 votes were cast. [caption id=“attachment_1477251” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Voters standing in line in Panaji, Goa. AFP[/caption] All the four key contestants cast their ballot within half an hour of the booths’ opening. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar cast ballot at the Massan de Amorim polling booth in the capital. He said the Bharatiya Janata Party would win both seats and that voters had come out in large numbers to vote out the corrupt Congress-led United Progressive Alliance. “Goa does not see lines like these in Lok Sabha elections otherwise,” Parrikar said. The chief minister also described the Congress’s condition as a “desperate party” that is about to lose power. Voting in Goa ends at 6 pm. A total of 1,622 polling booths have been put up. The main contenders for the North Goa seat are sitting MP and BJP candidate Shripad Yesso Naik, Congress candidate Ravi Naik and Dattaram Desai from the Aam Aadmi Party. Aleixo Reginaldo from the Congress and BJP’s Narendra Savoikar will fight it out for the South Goa seat. The Congress party has won this seat in 10 out of 14 Lok Sabha elections. IANS