Only one person turned up to vote in a polling booth in Kundaim, South Goa, in Wednesday's Parliamentary by-election after the entire village decided to boycott the poll over a local issue. Counting the single vote would reveal the voter's selection of candidate and violate the secrecy of the ballot, some election officials here felt.
Ruling in the matter, the Election Commission said the vote would be counted only in the event of a tie in the poll result, Chief Electoral Officer Ramesh Negi said.

A citizen petitioned the EC on Thursday under Section 129 of the Representation of People's Act 1951, asking that Mr Hemant Fadte's vote should not be taken up for counting to protect the secrecy of the ballot.
The result will be out on Saturday. Unaware of his village's decision to boycott the election, Fadte was the only person to cast his vote. in the particular polling booth which had over 300 voters.