NT NETWORK
Valpoi
Overall 66.52 per cent voting was witnessed in Keri, Nagargao and Honda constituencies of the Sattari taluka for Zilla Panchayat polls held on Saturday.
Low voter turnout was witnessed in all the three constituencies, initially, but it peaked later with Keri constituency reporting 63.80 per cent voting while in Honda and Nagargao, polling percentage was at 70.32 per cent and 65.65 per cent at the end of the day.
Both BJP and Congress-backed candidates claimed that they would become victorious at the polls.
Villagers from Saleli said that for the first time, there was a low turnout.
“Usually, for every election, people from Saleli and Honda under Poriem assembly constituency come out in large numbers to exercise their franchise, however this election, less people came out for voting due to the pandemic,” said a local BJP leader from Poriem constituency.
Returning officer Rajesh Ajgaonkar confirmed that Keri constituency reported 63.80 per cent voting while in Honda and Nagargao constituencies, 70.32 per cent and 65.65 per cent polling was respectively recorded.
“Altogether voting was held at 80 booths, and no untoward incident was reported” said Ajgaonkar.
Valpoi MLA and Health Minister Vishwajit Rane expressed confidence about winning all the three seats in Sattari and the Usgao seat.
Rane said that “low turnout was due to the pandemic, but pulse of voters was in our candidates’ favour.” “I cannot say about other parts of the state but due to pandemic a low turnout of voters was witnessed. I am sure all three seats in Sattari we will win and in Usgao our candidate will surely register victory,” Rane said while speaking over phone.