Nearly 7.91 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to 48 seats in over 1,200 polling stations in the zilla panchayat elections scheduled in Goa on December 12. This is the first major polling exercise in the state since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded 43 candidates, the Congress has fielded 38 candidates, followed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) with 17 each. There are also 79 independent candidates in the fray.
Here’s everything you need to know about Goa zilla panchayat polls:
1. Goa has 50 zilla panchayat seats, but one unopposed candidate has already been declared victorious, while a candidate contesting from the Navelim seat in South Goa district has died as a result of which no polling will take place on the seat.
2. The polling was originally scheduled to be held on March 22 and campaigning for the polls had already been carried out by candidates of different political parties. But the polls were postponed after the nationwide lockdown was imposed from March 25 to control the Covid-19 pandemic.
3. All voters will be thermally screened at the entrance of the polling station. To ensure social distancing norms are followed, circles will be marked on the ground at 2m distance for voters to stand in a queue outside the polling station.
4. Voters with high temperature will also be allowed to cast their votes. If the temperature of a person is above the specified mark, the voter will be asked to sit in the shade for 10 minutes and a second reading will be taken. If the second reading is still higher than the prescribed norms, then the voter will be asked to return during the last polling hour between 4pm and 5pm.
5. Covid positive persons will also be able to cast their votes between 4pm and 5pm. All necessary arrangements will be made to provide PPE kits for Covid patients at the polling booth across the state and there will be a separate queue for them. Based on the number of persons, the required PPE kits and gloves will be forwarded by the returning officers to the block development officers (BDOs) which will be used when the Covid positive voters come to the polling stations.
6. All licensed liquor premises located within zilla panchayat constituencies will remain shut from midnight of December 11 till midnight of December12.
7. The government has declared December 12 as a paid holiday. This will apply to “registered voters of the poll bound areas even if they are working outside the territorial limits of such areas” and will also apply to those belonging to central, state government offices, undertakings and other entities.
8. The counting of the votes will be held on December 14.