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The Voice of Goa — Since 1900 panjim, monday, march 14, 2011 postal reg. no. Goa 101 pricE rs. 3.00
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PANJIM ON A HIGH, 76% VOTE Highest turnout since 2006, counting begins at 10 am today HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, MARCH 13
Seventy six per cent voters exercised their franchise on Sunday, to elect a new set of 30 corporators to the Corporation of City of Panaji (CCP). The voter turnout was the highest in the history of the CCP elections. The last highest turnout was in 2006— 63.66 percent. The counting of votes will be taken up at 10 am on Monday morning at Goa Pharmacy College, Panjim and result of all 30 wards is expected to be out within an hour. State Election Commissioner Dr M Modassir, while speaking to media after conclusion of voting, said the overall election process was peaceful with few stray incidents reported here and there. According to statistics provided by the SEC, ward XV saw the highest voting of 87.34 per cent. Here sitting corporator Mangaldas Naik is pitted against PF’s Shekhar Degvekar. Apart from ward XV, high rate of polling was recorded at ward 20 (85.90), ward 24 (83.95), ward 21 (83.25), ward 14 (83.14), ward 27 (82.65), ward 17 (82.13) and ward 23 (80.69). Ward IV registered lowest voting percentage of 59.03. Here outgoing Mayor Carolina Po is contesting against Prabhakar Dongrekar of Panaji First (PF). Panjimites seem to have come all out with enthusiasm and their anxiety, probably was reflected in the election trend observed in the city. Many wards witnessed early morning rush even though it was Sunday. Surprisingly, majority of voters in almost all wards preferred to cast their votes during first half of the day as 68 per cent polling was reported by 2 pm. Initially confusion prevailed
at Government High School, Dona Paula, wherein polling for wards I and II were held, as there were five polling booths in one premise.People did not have any clue where they had to cast their vote. Later, the polling officials asked the police personnel to guide the people to their respective booths. In addition to five polling booths, the administration had also set up an auxiliary booth at this centre. “Auxiliary booth is used when there is heavy voting on one particular cluster of booths,” a senior government officer said. The Panaji First panel candidate Nelson Cabral who is contesting from Ward II complained that he was not allowed to vote at the first instance as he failed to produce his voting card. “I am carrying my card as a candidate. There is a proper photograph on it yet officers did not allow me to vote,” Cabral told Herald adding he was allowed to vote only when he produced the election card. In Ward IX and X, Surendra Furtado, Sudin Kamat of PF and Tosha Kurade of Babush panel, were not happy about treatment meted out to them by the polling staff. They complained that they were not allowed to enter the polling booths. Goa Police kept a tight vigil across the city since Saturday to avoid any fist fights between the supporters of rival groups.
VOTING: THEN & NOW
Wards 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Panel with Uday... Never, says Babush PINC played its part in highest turnout
WINNERS ALL!!!
Babush Monserrate
“I am confident of my win. My panel will get almost 27 seats. I don’t want support from any independent candidate. My panel will form the majority.”
Manohar Parrikar
“The high turnout will work in favour of Panaji First. It shows the people are fed up of scams in the CCP. I am confident that Panaji First will not only get a majority but a thumping majority.”
Japan faces nuke crisis Threat of second explosion looms
PTI TOKYO, MARCH 13
Facing an unprecedented nuclear crisis, Japan today struggled hard to avert multiple meltdowns at two of its reactors damaged by the devastating earthquake and tsunami as it braced for a fresh explosion at the Fukushima plant amid fears that the toll may exceed 10,000 in the ravaged northeastern coast. In southwestern Japan, the 1,421-metre Shinmoedake volcano erupted today ringing alarm bells as ash and rocks shot up into the sky but it was not immediately clear if it was a fall-
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61.48 64.51 58.17 59.60 57.86 67.68 67.74 64.85 57.14 53.27 56.07 61.92 61.98 59.89 70.12 72.73 71.93 71.26 67.72 71.31 60.98 62.10 67.76 72.76 62.84 50.66 64.11 62.28 71.17 59.03
71.80 81.70 66.26 59.03 67.07 68.19 74.17 78.46 70.65 76.89 73.06 76.23 73.40 83.14 87.34 70.58 82.13 78.81 79.86 85.90 83.25 74.68 80.69 83.95 67.71 64.63 82.65 66.22 77.30 77.94
OF FIRST & SECOND: (Top) - Voters queue up in large numbers at Government Primary School near Pharmacy College. (Left) - Manohar Parrikar the star campaigner of Panjim First making every second count at in Ward no. 24. (Middle) - Babush Monserrate and Isidore Fernandes change gears to take stock of voting. (Right): Officials, with EVMs in tow, head back to the pavilion. Photo by Sachin Ambadoskar & Rozario Estibeiro
ON PAGE 2
Babush,supporters in rally before tally
Voters Voters % of % of polled-2006 polled-2011 voting-2006 voting-2011
Smoke billows from fires raging at the port in Tagajo, Miyagi prefecture on Sunday.
out of the massive earthquake. In a televised statement, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Japan is experiencing its biggest crisis since World War II as it
tackled the aftermath of Friday’s massive earthquake with a magnitude of 9, the ferocious tsunami and the worrying nuclear crisis.
Japanese authorities scrambled to control overheating reactors and fresh radiation threats at the quake-hit Fukushima nuke reactor as the risk of a second explosion grew. Fukushima shut down three reactors after the tsunami. A day after the first explosion, Kan said the situation at the plant, 240 km north of capital Tokyo, remained “grave”. The explosion had blown off the roof and walls around the reactor. The reactor faced serious troubles after its emergency cooling system failed, triggering a fresh radiation threat.
Left Front drops nine ministers, many MLAs PTI KOLKATA, MARCH 13
Apparently fearing anti-incumbency, the Left Front today dropped nine ministers and a number of sitting legislators as it announced a list of 292 candidates for the West Bengal assembly polls - its toughest electoral battle since assuming power in 1977. The list, which was announced in a press conference by Left Front Chairman Biman Bose, includes 149 new faces — 15 more than the last time. Of the 292 candidates announced, the
Communist Party of India- Marxist will field 210, Forward Bloc 34, Revolutionary Socialist Partu 23, Communist Party of India 12, West Bengal Socialist Party 5, Revolutionary Communist Party of India, MFB and DSP 2 each and Rashtriya Janata Dal and Biplobi Bangla Congress one. Announcing the list after a crucial LF meeting which ratified the names of candidates, Bose said nominees for Serampore in Hooghly district and Kalimpong in Darjeeling district would be announced later. Assembly Speaker H A Halim and Deputy
Speaker Bhaktipada Ghosh as well as LF chief whip Syed Masiha have decided not to contest on health ground, Bose said. The minister who have been denied tickets this time are - Manab Mukherjee, Partha Dey, Nandogopal Bhattacharjee, Bankim Ghosh, Rabin Ghosh, Benoy Krishan Biswas, Rabindranth Hembram, Yogesh Chandra Barman and Tapan Roy. On the reason for not fielding these ministers, Bose said some of them declined to contest and wanted to work for the party.
Ashok Naik “The increased trend in the polling clearly shows that people now want a new council and change. We are confident of our win.”
Surendra Furtado “This election will see something unexpected. Many independent candidates will take power. I feel that not a single independent candidate should join any panel.”
Carolina Po, mayor “People have voted for the best and deserving candidate. They want to see change, development. I feel Babush panel will form the majority as everybody knows that he is the one who can bring change in the city.”