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Goa gears up for EVMs in all constituencies

Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panaji

No speculation, no exit polls, no impatient waiting and no tension everywhere, waiting for the results. Counting of the ballot would begin one hour after polling ends, and the results should be probably out in two hours, of course subject to trouble-free polling.

Goa, also known for peaceful elections, will be the first state to go fully hi-tech, as it will become the first state where electronic voting machines will be used in all its constituencies. Of course, it helps that Goa has only 40 assembly constituencies.

The election date for Goa, currently under President's rule, is yet to be announced officially. But the local election office is gearing up for early polls, probably by May 29. Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill, who will inaugurate the demonstration centres of electronic machines in the state capital next week, is likely to announce the dates shortly.

The Election Commission is reported to be considering taking up the counting of votes, which is merely adding up booth-wise number of votes displayed on the machine, the same evening after assessing the situation within one hour. The postponement would come only in case of repolling at any polling station.

With hardly around nine lakh voters and 1135 polling stations in 40 constituencies, counting would be a much more easier task than what the EC experienced at selected polling stations in Delhi, MP and Rajasthan. No polling station in the state contains more than 2000 voters while no assembly segment has more than 30 polling stations.

Though the EC is prepared to face 64 candidates in a constituency with 16 being accommodated on each machine, Goa seldom has more than 10 candidates, which would make even the counting process much faster. The whole thing could be finished in less than two hours if taken up at six centres simultaneously, at the level of deputy collector's offices who are the returning officers.

The whole process would also bring down the expenditure tremendously since each constituency would need at the most one or two official counting personnel, making it a maximum of 80 against over 1500 deployed at two district counting centres. Similarly, the counting halls need not be flooded with counting agents of all the candidates, but would be replaced by only one for each candidate.

The election officials also appear relieved since the use of electronic machines would also mean easy operation, no counterfoil for ballot papers, no tampering of votes and no scope for invalid votes. It would thus make voting as well as counting an easy game.

With over 75 per cent literary rate in the tourist state, the election office also appears confident that the live demonstrations of electronic machines they are planning from the next week would make it an easy process, when the polling day finally arrives. If they succeed, it would be a real tension-free election.

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