FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2024
For the next 26 days, politics is going to dominate all conversations across the State. As has happened in the past, most parties have opted for the ‘winnability’ quotient of the individual as the main criterion in selecting their candidates. Adherence to party ideology and policies by the individuals was not even the second most important criterion. There has been a case of an individual joining the party and getting the ticket on the same day. There is another of a party member resigning, joining another party, quitting from there and returning to the original party and being rewarded with a ticket. This explains just how parties have gone about selecting those who they will be sending out to the people as candidates to represent them over the next five years.
When the aim of political parties is merely to defeat the other, do governance and ideology have a role to play, or is it just a game where winning is important? Is development, the term that is loosely used in promises, meant to deliver a better quality of life to the people or is it merely an excuse to clear projects at the cost of the environment?
The goal of any political party that is in the fray is to win over 50 per cent of the seats and form the government. The idea of an election is also to give a party or an alliance of parties a majority to govern based on the programme offered by the party. But for that, shouldn’t the parties prop up candidates who are in tune with the policies that the party espouses? The lists of candidates being released in the past days do not appear to follow this practice. For them the possibility of winning is all that matters. This is not the first time such opportunism is visible in the Goan electoral scenario, it is a repeat of the past and this – party hopping and winnability – have turned out to be the tragedy of Goan politics as politicians by whatever means possible attempt to gain and then cling on to power, displaying an utter lack of ideology.
On the other hand, the election office is making efforts to create awareness of ethical voting, where it calls upon the people not to get lured by bribes and promises when deciding who to vote for. Ethical voting is what Goa does require, especially after political parties have displayed that there are no ethics in selecting candidates. It is therefore for the people to bring about the ethics in politics. The February 14 elections could become an important milestone in the State’s history, if voters ignore party ideology in the manner in which the parties are overlooking it as they dole out tickets, and actually vote for individuals who will make a difference to governance in the State, without getting lured by promises and rewards. Not only does the election office want people to vote ethically, but Goa needs politicians at the helm who are ethically upright.
Quite simply, if on the EVM are names of credible people won’t Goans who go out to vote on February 14, press the button opposite the name and symbol of that person? All is not yet lost. The process of filing of nominations begins, but there are still days when there are people who can make a difference with their vision to give Goa a better future who can enter the race. There are already in each party list, candidates who stand out over the others, but maybe not enough in each party to form a majority group. It will be for the voters to sift through the lists and choose the best candidate.
