In keeping with the trend seen elsewhere in the country so far, an all-time-high 76.82 percent of the voters exercised the franchise in the two Lok Sabha constituencies of Goa today.
Chief Electoral Officer Keshav Chandra told reporters that North Goa constituency recorded 78.60 percent voting while in South Goa it was 75.14 percent.
Chandra said this was the highest turnout witnessed in the state in a Parliamentary election, which broke the earlier record of 61 percent in 1998.
The polling today has been way above the meagre 55.30 per cent in 2009 elections.
"The entire election process was peaceful and no untoward incident was reported," Chandra said.
In North Goa, 5,15,247 votes were cast while 5,44,706 people voted in South Goa.
In North Goa constituency, BJP's sitting MP and former Union minister Shripad Naik is pitted against Congress's Ravi Naik, AAP's Dattaram Desai, CPI's Suhas Naik and former Congressman Dayanand Narvekar (independent).
In South Goa, BJP's Narendra Sawaikar faces Congress' Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, AAP's Swati Kerkar and CPI's Raju Mangueshkar. Congress denied ticket to the sitting MP Francisco Sardinha from here.
Polling was brisk in the morning despite the scorching sun as more than 40 per cent voters cast the vote in the first few hours. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar was amongst the early voters. He voted at Mason de Amorim polling booth in Panaji.
