Rupesh Samant

Panaji, Apr 23: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant was amongst the early voters in Goa which goes for poll today.

The Chief Minister had arrived to the booth along with his wife, Sulakshana, who is also head of BJP Mahila Morcha in Goa.

“I am happy that I am voting in my booth for the first time as CM,” Sawant said after voting.

“I know mining has been a major issue but people know that we are taking all possible measures to solve it. I am expecting 75-80 per cent voting in Goa even in the mining belt,” he said.

Sawant said that the party had raised national issues during the campaigning to convince people to vote for Narendra Modi led government in the centre.

State is going for voting in two Lok Sabha Constituencies and three assembly constituencies including Shiroda, Mandrem and Mapusa.

The voting will be conducted over around 1,600 polling booths where more than 11 lakh voters will exercise their franchise.

All the main national political parties – BJP, Congress, AAP and Shiv Sena are in the fray for the elections along with regional outfit – MGP which is contesting only in Shiroda Assembly constituency.

There are 12 candidates in the fray for the two Lok?Sabha constituencies and 18 for the three Assembly seats. The by-elections in Shiroda and Mandrem were?necessitated after their sitting Congress MLAs resigned and?joined the ruling BJP. The Mapusa seat fell vacant following the death of its sitting MLA.