log on to thegoan.net @thegoanonline THURSDAY MAY 9, 2024 GOA Facebook.com/thegoan The Goan E-Paper (Playstore/IOS) 13 pages PRICE ` 10 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME IX, NO.322 HC sets aside pastor couple’s externment order 2 5 GOA Calls for extending wedding timings beyond 10 pm Instagram.com/thegoanonline RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 INFO Nine malaria complications you need to be aware of PlotTALLY, ADDITIONAL VOTES IN SouthASSEMBLY thickens in HINTERLAND Goa SALCETE SEGMENTS HOLD KEY TO CONGRESS, BJP FORTUNES THE GOAN I NETWORK MARGAO A tsunami of voters was what was expected by Congress candidate Captain Viriato Fernandes in the May 7 Lok Sabha poll for the South Goa seat. A tsunami of sorts did hit the South Goa constituency, with a whopping 4.45 lakh voters, around 74.47 per cent of the electorate casting their votes on Tuesday election. Let’s, however, get down to brass-tacks to find out whether the tsunami will favour the Congress to retain the South Goa seat or pave way for the Lotus to bloom and regain the seat. The key question here is whether Tuesday’s polling will keep Congress in good stead in its traditional stronghold of Salcete and, whether the party will be in a position to overcome the drought like situation it faces in the hinterland of South Goa constituency every election. Consider the poll statistics at the May 7 election. There are a total of 1,71,568 voters from Salcete which has eight Assembly segments, including the minorities dominated segments of Velim, Benaulim, Nuvem, Curtorim, Navelim, >> See PG 2 Mhadei hearing at snail’s pace, members in dark over PRAWAH, House panel meetings IN SHORT >> SSC results likely on May 15 PANAJI: Goa board is likely to announce the result of Std 10 exams on May 15. Goa Board Chairman Bhagirath Shetye on Wednesday, however, said that the date is tentative and not finalised as yet. Sam Pitroda quits as Cong overseas chief NEW DELHI: Congress leader Sam Pitroda on Wednesday resigned as the Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress after his controversial remarks spurred the BJP to label the party “racist”. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on X that party chief Mallikarjun Kharge has accepted Pitroda’s decision.  >> See pg 7 SALCETE Taluka SOUTH GOA VOTING STATS Nuvem............................ 20,160 Curtorim......................... 21,823 Fatorda........................... 22,951 Margao .......................... 22,301 Benaulim........................19,954 Navelim ........................ 20,765 Cuncolim........................ 21,504 Velim............................... 22,019 TOTAL...........................1,71,568 PONDA Taluka Ponda............................ 24,409 Shiroda......................... 23,496 Madkai.......................... 22,304 TOTAL............................ 70,209 MORMUGAO Taluka Mormugao...................... 15,123 Vasco.............................. 24,553 Dabolim......................... 19,295 Cortalim......................... 23,108 TOTAL............................ 82,079 besides Cuncolim, Fatorda and Margao. Now compare the Salcete voting statistics to polling in the eight assembly segments in the hinterland talukas – Ponda, Shiroda, Madkai, Sanvordem, Sanguem, Curchorem, Quepem and Cana- QUEPEM Taluka Quepem........................ 26,433 Curchorem .................... 21,885 TOTAL............................. 48,318 CANACONA Taluka Cancacona..................... 27,134 TOTAL............................. 27,134 SANGUEM Taluka Sanvordem.................... 24,712 Sanguem....................... 21,987 TOTAL...................... 46,699 POLLING IN ASSEMBLY SEGMENTS 8 Salcete segments�����������������������������������������������1,71,568 votes 8 hinterland segments ���������������������������������������� 1,92,360 votes 4 Mormugao segments������������������������������������������� 80,079 votes cona – which have recorded a total voting of 1,92,360 votes. A mere comparison of voting in Salcete and the hinterland segments would reveal that around 20,792 additional votes have been polled in eight hinterland segments. Moreover, the four seg- ments in Mormugao taluka comprising of Mormugao, Vasco, Dabolim and Cortalim, which is presently held by the BJP and an Independent MLA, have reported around 80,979 voting in Tuesday’s election. A higher turnout of voters in the eight hinterland seg- 25 VVPAT units among 49 faulty machines replaced EVMs STORED IN STRONG ROOM, FAULTY ONES WILL BE SENT FOR REPAIRS: CEO THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Not the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) but rather the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines were a major challenge during the voting held on Tuesday. A total of 49 EVMs and VVPAT machines were replaced as 33 were found to be defective of which VVPATs constituted the highest at 25. Chief Electoral Officer Ramesh Verma revealed that the highest number of faults occurred in the VVPATs this time. According to the data provided, 25 VVPATs experienced technical glitches while only eight EVMs were found to be faulty, hence replaced. Of these, the majority of 15 VVPAT issues were in South Goa and 10 in the North. Another official, speaking to The Goan, explained that after the counting process, all these malfunctioning ma- Election code nets illicit goods worth `17.82 cr PANAJI: Amidst the electoral fervour, authorities grappled with a surge in illicit activities, seizing consignments, cash, and freebies amounting to Rs 17.82 crore since March 16 when the election code of conduct came into force. These seizures and the amount is also the highest in Goa’s recent history. “It is 40 per cent higher than the 2022 general assembly elections and 55 per cent higher than the 2019 Lok Sabha elections,” Verma said. chines will undergo necessary repairs. “The faulty and the replaced EVMs and VVPATs are currently in the strong room with all records intact. The faulty ones will be sent for repairs through the election commission thereafter,” the official quickly added. Several polling stations faced voting disruptions due to technical issues with these machines. The official clarified that replacing defective EVMs/ VVPATs is a time-consuming process to maintain transparency including official communication to the sector officers, completing paperwork for replacement, fitment, etc and finally conducting a mock poll on the replaced EVM to avoid allegations of tampering. “If there’s no mock polling, there will be re-polling. >Continued on P5 Days after rare side-effects disclosure, AstraZeneca withdraws Covid vaccine PTI NEW DELHI K-based pharmaceutical major AstraZeneca has started global withdrawal of its Covid-19 vaccine, which was provided in India as ‘Covishield’ in partnership with Serum Institute of India, days after it admitted to rare side-effects of blood clotting and lowering of platelet counts. The withdrawal has been initiated due to a surplus of available updated vaccines since the pandemic, the company said in a statement. In India, the company’s partner Serum Institute of U OFF THE SHELF: COMMERCIAL REASON „„The withdrawal has been initiated due to a surplus of available updated vaccines since the pandemic „„AstraZeneca had partnered India (SII) said it has stopped the manufacturing and supply of additional doses of Covishield since December 2021 while reiterating that it had disclosed all rare to very rare side-effects, including Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia with Oxford University to develop the Covid-19 vaccine, which was sold in India as Covishield and as Vaxzevria in Europe Syndrome, in the packaging insert in 2021. AstraZeneca had partnered with Oxford University to develop the Covid-19 vaccine, which was sold in India as Covishield and as Vaxzevria in Europe. SII STATEMENT „„In India, the company’s partner SII says it had disclosed all rare to very rare side-effects, including Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome, in the packaging insert in 2021 “As multiple, variant Covid-19 vaccines have since been developed there is a surplus of available updated vaccines. This has led to a decline in demand for Vaxzervria, which >Continued on P5 10 Sunrisers Hyderabad smashes LSG in jaw-dropping chase BJP banks on high Sattari vote to romp home in North Goa Cong relying on RGP to eat into BJP votes THE GOAN I NETWORK ments, where the BJP wields considerable influence must have emboldened even Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to make a statement that the party would virtually lead in the hinterland segments, even as Congress claimed that not all the votes polled in the eight hinterland areas of South Goa will go to the BJP. The opposition party, however, faces a crucial question – whether the extra 20,792 votes polled in the hinterland areas will prove decisive in the final poll outcome. That would bring to the fore another moot question, what had come in the way of the INDIA bloc to get voters out in the eight Salcete Assembly segment, when the alliance partners are representing in as many as four Assembly segments in the minority-dominated taluka. Questions are also being raised in political circles whether the turnout of 1.71 lakh voters in Salcete will help the Congress take an unassailable lead of a minimum 60,000 votes, leave alone the projected 70,000. The BJP is, nonetheless, brimming with confidence >Continued on P5 13 SPORTS PANAJI The voting turnouts in the three assembly segments of the hinterland Sattari taluka where two of the saffron party’s most powerful leaders – Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and the number two in his cabinet, Vishwajit Rane – hail from has been massive in Tuesday’s polling for the North Goa Lok Sabha constituency. The taluka has three assembly segments – Poriem, Sanquelim and Valpoi. Sawant represents Sanquelim, Rane is the Valpoi MLA and the latter’s wife Dr Deviya, represents Poriem formerly the bastion of her father-in-law Pratapsing Rane for over fifty years. All these three segments rank top three in terms of voter turnout among all of Goa’s 40 segments in Tuesday’s polling. While Sawant’s Sanquelim logged a 87% turnout with 24,560 votes polled, Vishwajit’s Valpoi had 27,323 voters turning up to notch a 84.53% turnout. In Poriem, which incidentally has the largest voter strength of 33,911, the turnout was a record 88.62% translating to 30,051 votes polled on Tuesday. Without going into what the SATTARI TALUKA STATS CONSTITUENCY PORIEM SANQUELIM VALPOI VOTES 30,051 24,560 27,323 % 88.62 87 84.53 MORE TALUKA-WISE ANALYSIS ON PAGES 2 & 3 ground-level political headwinds were in the region and the three individual assembly segments, the exceptionally high voter turnout is seemingly a booster for the saffron party’s Shripad Naik, who is seeking a record sixth straight term as North Goa MP. Almost every pundit is counting Naik to score huge leads over his main rival Ramakant Khalap of the Congress in the Poriem-Sanquelim-Valpoi segments much as it was expected in the run-up to this election, what with the Sawant-Rane duo hailing from this sub-district. The record in 2019 also backs Naik in this region he had scored a massive 24,000plus lead over his Congress rival Girish Chodankar collectively in these three assembly segments – Sanquelim (7,081), Poriem (9,019) and Valpoi (8,185) – even with Rane Sr, then being a Congress legislator. With higher voting percentages this year which incidentally also translate to approximately 8,000 votes polled in excess of the 2019 tally, the Sattari scenario does not augur too well for the overall chances in North Goa for Naik’s challenger Khalap. However there is one difference in the Shripad vs Khalap battle now than what it was in the Shripad vs Girish Chodankar battle of 2019 – the seemingly robust presence (at least in this region) of RGP’s Manoj Parab – in the North Goa Lok Sabha battle. Parab, it should be noted, had contested against Vishwajit from Valpoi and had polled a respectable 6,000 votes. It is also the region where he cut his political teeth by being >Continued on P5