Panaji: After a single-phase general election, counting will take place on June 4 for two Lok Sabha constituencies in Goa, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in a straight battle with the Congress with both parties currently holding one seat each.
The vote counting will be held in seven rounds each for North and South Goa seats, and the results will be out before noon, a senior official said.
The counting for the North Goa seat will be held at Government Polytechnic College, Altinho at Panaji, while for South Goa, it will be at Damodar College, Comba in Margao.
North Goa has sitting BJP MP Shripad Naik taking on Congress candidate former union minister Ramakant Khalap, while the Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP), a new regional outfit, has fielded its chief Manoj Parab.
In South Goa, the Congress denied a ticket to its sitting MP Francisco Sardinha and fielded Navy veteran Viriato Fernandes as the INDIA bloc candidate against businesswoman Pallavi Dempo, who is making her political debut.
The RGP has fielded Rubert Pereira from the constituency.
The BJP, which has been ruling Goa since 2012, appears to be better placed, while the Congress has contested the election as a key constituent of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc.
The contest has gotten interesting as the RGP has also jumped into the fray with young candidates.
Eight candidates each are contesting from both seats.
The polls in the coastal state were held on May 7, with North Goa witnessing 76.34 per cent voter turnout and South Goa seeing 73 per cent voting.
"We are expecting the results to be out before noon if there is no recounting," a senior official from the state electoral office told PTI on Monday.
According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), North Goa will have 157 tables for counting, while the figure is 161 for South Goa.
As many as 236 micro observers will be deployed for counting in North Goa and 242 for South Goa, the official said.
The ECI has appointed 282 counting supervisors for North Goa and 220 for South Goa, he said.
Apart from this, there will be 282 counting assistants for North and 210 for South Goa, and 376 and 210 returning officers for North and South respectively, the official said.
There will be 454 counting agents for North and 495 for South Goa and seven and six special observers, respectively, he said.
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