Goa Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Voting Begins On 2 Seats In State, 16 Candidates In Fray; Voters Queue Up Early Morning At Polling Booths

Goa: The sleepy and beautiful state of Goa was up early to vote. The Free Press Journal visited a booth at 6.45 am today and people were already in queue.

Mind you this is a booth in South Goa in a remote place called Nuvem. The polling booth was at Pateapur which is at least 3-4 kilometres from the highway in a quiet and peaceful area

Typical of many booths in Goa, the booth is picturesque to look at with wild flowers growing on the sides. At 6.45 am, at least four voters were waiting outside this booth.

FPJ Interacts With Early Voters

The FPJ spoke to two. One, Maria Nicholette who is 60 years old and has been voting at every election said that she loves the morning vibe in Goa. “This is Goa. It gets hot by the minute. Best is to come early and vote,” she said. Maria works at a local market and was rushing to work post casting her vote.

Another boy S Rodriques is voting only for the second time and was excited too. He had to rush to work too so preferred to visit the booth early. “The arrangements were good inside. Am happy,” he signed off.

More than 11 lakh voters are expected to cast their vote in Goa today.

In the third phase of elections, voting commenced in Goa this morning from 7 am. There are 16 candidates in the fray contesting two Lok Sabha seats mainly in North Goa and South Goa.

Key Candidates On Both Seats In Goa

The two big names in North Goa are Shripad Naik from the BJP and Ramakant Khallap from the Congress. South’s famous contestants include Pallavi Dempo who is fighting on a BJP ticket and Captain Veriato Fernandes who is on a Congress ticket. Ironically the seat in South Goa is currently held by Congress’ Francisco Sardhina.

According to latest available figures, Goa has 11,78,644 voting population of which 5,98,934 are in South Goa and the remaining in North.