BIJAPUR; 29 Dec: As the district administration is prepared for the counting of votes for Gram Panchayat elections on Wednesday, the excitement and anxiety among the candidates has already increased.
The district which went for polling in two phases, is waiting for the decisive day when the counting will start and declares the fate of the candidates who have contested in the polls.
The candidates in rural areas had hectic days of campaigning to lure the votes to vote for them. Several candidates have spend a good deal of money is during the campaign. According to reports, several candidates spent money for giving free food, materials and even liquor for the voters.
Besides spending money locally, they even spent money to bring back the migrant persons of the their areas for voting by arranging vehicle, food and event money given to the voters from arriving from different parts of the State and neighboring Maharashtra, and Goa.
Their every act to rule and hectic campaigning ended and the candidates will be waiting for the ballot boxes to be opened that will announce that fate whether they will rule for five years or simply go home.
It may be noted that the polling held in two phases, in which eight taluks went for polling in first phase while remaining four taluks voted in second phase.
A total of 199 GPs of the district went for polling where the fate of 9247 candidates sealed in the ballot boxes.
These candidates are now busy in hypothetical calculations based on the number of votes polled in their respective GPs.
Meanwhile, some reports also suggest that betting is rampantly going on in rural areas as the local bookies are betting on the victory of particular candidates.
Betting is not only for victory or defeat of the candidate but also on number of possible votes the candidate going to secure.
Since the polling being held during the Covid pandemic, precautions were taken as per the government guidelines to prevent the spreading infection. Though the State Election Commission had allowed the Covid positive voters to votes, however very meager number of positive patients showed interest in voting.
According to the district administration, they had identified some 30 covid positive patients were eligible for voting, however even after persuasion, only three turned up for voting in the district.
Amid this, the Excise Department has seized some 406 liters of liquor during the election campaigning from different parts of the district while the poll code of conduct was in place.
Some six lakh worth vehicles that were carrying liquor was also seized and some 1150 cases have been booked against the offenders.
