With people lining up for the polling, Goa Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai and his wife Reetha Sreedharan on Monday cast their votes at the polling booth of Taleigao Assembly constituency in the coastal state.
The polling for 40 assembly seats in Goa began at 7 am and will end at 6 pm today.
"People are casting their votes here peacefully which shows the success of our democracy. I hope maximum people will cast their votes today," the Goa Governor told ANI.
A total of 301 candidates from different political parties are in the electoral fray in Goa.
The incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is challenged by Congress, Trinamool Congress and Aam Admi Party (AAP) in a multi-cornered electoral contest in Goa.
Notably, this is the first electoral fray for the BJP without Parrikar. However, Utpal Parrikar, his son, is seeking to carry the legacy of his father in the Panaji Assembly constituency as an Independent candidate.
After the BJP refused to give him the ticket Manohar Parrikar represented the Panaji Assembly seat. He had resigned from the BJP after Utpal Parrikar was denied a ticket from the Panaji Assembly constituency.
The Panaji Assembly seat has its own importance in the electoral politics of the state. Former Union Minister for Defence Manohar Parrikar, who had represented Panaji, had been a three-term Chief Minister of the state.
The intense poll campaigning by all the political parties for 40 Assembly seats in Goa concluded on Saturday evening.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant is contesting from the Sanquelim constituency against Congress' Dharamesh Saglani while the BJP candidate from Margao seat, Manohar Ajgaonkar has been pitched against Congress nominee Digambar Vasant Kamat.
Goa Assembly has a strength of 40 members out of which the BJP currently has 17 legislators and enjoys the support of legislators from Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), Vijay Sardesai of the Goa Forward Party (GFP), and three independents. The GFP and MGP each have three MLAs, and Congress, on the other hand, has 15 MLAs in the house.
The counting of votes in Goa will take place on March 10.
( With inputs from ANI )
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