Sandesh Prabhudesai
15 March 1999
No speculations, no exit polls, no impatient waiting and no tension
mounted everywhere, waiting for the results. The polling would end and counting would
begin within one hour. The results would be probably out in two hours, of course, subject
to trouble-free polling.
Goa, also known for peaceful elections, would be the first state to go
fully hi-tech, as the election commission is planning to take up counting of votes within
one hour after the polling ends. It is the first state, where electronic machines would be
used for all the 40 Assembly constituencies.
The election date for Goa, presently under the President’s rule,
is yet to be announced officially. But the local election office is gearing up for early
polls, probably by 29 May. Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill, who will inaugurate the
demonstration centres of electronic machines here next week, is likely to announce the
date shortly.
The election commission is reportedly seriously considering to take up
counting of votes, which is merely adding up booth-wise number of votes displayed on the
machine, the same evening after assessing the situation within one hour. The postponement
would come only in case of repolling at any polling station.
With hardly around nine lakh voters and 1135 polling stations in 40
constituencies, counting would be a much more easier task than what the EC experienced at
selected polling stations in Delhi, MP and Rajasthan. No polling station here contains
more than 2000 voters while no Assembly segment has more than 30 polling stations.
Though the EC is prepared to face 64 candidates in a constituency with
16 being accommodated on each machine, Goa seldom crosses number of 10 candidates, which
would make even the counting process much faster. It could be finished in less than two
hours if they plan to take it up at six centres simultaneously, at the level of deputy
collector’s offices, who are the returning officers.
The whole process would also bring down the expenditure tremendously
since each constituency would need at the most one or two official counting personnel,
making it maximum 80 against over 1500 deployed at two district counting centres.
Similarly, the counting halls need not be flooded with counting agents of all the
candidates, but would be replaced by only one for each candidate.
The election officials also appear relieved since use of electronic
machines would also mean easy operation, no counterfoil for ballot papers, no tampering of
votes and no scope for invalid votes under any circumstances. It would thus make voting as
well as counting an easy game.
With over 75 per cent literary rate in the tourist state, the election
office also appears confident that the live demonstrations of electronic machines they are
planning from the next week would make it an easy process, when the day of polling
arrives. If they succeed, it would be a real tension-free election.
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