Although elections 2022 saw an impressive voter turnout in Goa, a comparison with the 2017 polling percentage shows that barring a few key constituencies, ‘change’ as that cherished dream has not actually translated into the sort of ‘passion’ one would generally associate with a frustrated and angered electorate.
The anti-incumbency threat looming large over the sitting MLAs was an added bonus!
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However, the feeling that a better response from the masses on the election-day could have brought Goa a bit closer to the desired end will continue to bother a concerned few for quite some time yet.
For a state which, the locals strongly feel, has been ravaged by decades of political ennui and rampant corruption, the deteriorating levels of governance has been a natural fallout of the overall inefficiency characterizing successive governments.
Nevertheless, for Goa, the past few years has been a revelation of sorts with a series of public agitations bringing to fore the relative strength of the people’s unity, might and voice in checkmating the domineering ways of the government in bulldozing its way through with unpopular projects and agendas.
As the clamour for a betterment in the prevalent situation gained pitch, Goans had that golden chance to give shape to their dreams.
But with many of the opinion that voting is an exercise in futility, these elections too appear to have gone along the same lines of the earlier ones.
It was Voter’s Day out on February 14!
But with many deciding to stay at home with pressing matters that demanded their attention, the entire hullabaloo over seeing the dawn of a new awakening ended with a whimper, or so it seems.
If it was the lack of alternatives which the Goan electorate has always had reasons to regret about, the glut of possibilities this time put it in a catch-22 situation.
However, the mutually conflicting or dependent conditions brought about by the ‘plentiful’ setting that this election held out to the Goan voters will for sure usher in a new trend.
Election patterns in Goa are hence set for a radical change!
Soon to be classified as a poll-strategy, the phrase ‘eating into the votes of’ will henceforth assume a greater significance. As a process that is already mired in enough controversies, the new ploys adopted will only add to the ambiguities associated with elections.
This would mean that every political party think-tank will now be envisaging a two or three-tier compartmentalization of its candidates for future elections.
Moreover, with dissent and rebellions within party-ranks over ticket distributions creating unpleasant situations, various levels of ‘election-probables’ present within the party organization will ensure that the flock stays together, so to speak.
But will all this ‘transparency’ spiced with an equal share of subterfuge definitely ensure a people’s choice of candidate as the next legislator from respective constituencies!
