Polls 2012: Record 81% voting in Goa, 100% in one booth

Goa witnessed a huge turnout for the Assembly elections on Saturday with a record 81% voters casting their ballots.

North Goa district reported a big turnout with constituencies of Poriem, Sanguem and Madkai recording 89% voting followed by Sankhalimat 87% while an estimated 75% voters cast their ballots in South Goa.

Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi told reporters in New Delhi that an estimated 81% voters had cast their ballots in the coastal state. The previous highest voting in the state was in 2007 when 70.51% voters had voted.

The Election Commission officials were in for a surprise when a booth in Dovorlim locality near Margao reported 100% voting by 3.30 pm, 90 minutes before the close of polling. Two booths, one in Poriem and another in Sankhalim constituency, had recorded 95% voting by 4 pm.

The figures received till 4 pm indicated that people in the mining belt came out in large number for polling.

Minor scuffles reported during the day with Congress' Panaji candidate Yatin Parekh hurling abuses against BJP workers while Public Works Department minister Churchill Alemao threatened a senior police officer in front of the media in his Navelim constituency.