With an unprecedented 81 per cent voter turnout for Saturday’s elections for the state Assembly, the anti-incumbency wave was clear in Goa.
The large turnout during the day of peaceful polling had the ruling Congress worried, as many leaders could not be sure that it was a good sign for them. However, both the Congress and the Opposition BJP claimed that they would form the government.
A total of 10.25 lakh voters were supposed to exercise their franchise during the day and high polling percentages were witnessed throughout the 1,612 polling booths spread over the 40 constituencies. Quite a few constituencies saw more than 85 per cent voter turnout with South Goa’s Valpoi topping the list with 92 per votes.
The BJP-Maharashtrawadi Goman-tak Party (MGP) combine felt that they would win 25 out of the 40 seats, while the Congress-NCP combine were confident of winning 22.
The numbers of course do not add up and election experts are of the opinion that the new entrant to Goa politics, the Trinamul Congress, might throw up some surprises and rebel congress leaders like Vijay Sardesai, who were contesting as Independents, would also make a huge difference in the final tally.
Stating that the high turn-out would work in Congress’ favour, the party’s chief spokesman in Goa, Mr Shantaram Naik said, “This is good that people have come out in large numbers to vote. We are sure that they will be voting for Congress-NCP.”