THURSDAY, MAY 09, 2024
VITHALDAS HEGDE
Goa Assembly elections are round the corner and soon the various political parties and politicians will release their election manifestos portraying a rosy picture tempting the electorate with lots of goodies and slogans such as `We will eradicate poverty’; `We will provide 10,000 jobs’ and ‘We will banish unemployment’; `We will root out corruption and there will be zero tolerance to corruption; ‘We will not allow price rise of essential commodities’; ‘We will provide free electricity’; We will offer a clean government and so on.
Manifestos are drafted just before the elections by crafty political experts and strategists to capture the imagination of the voters. These manifestos contain all sorts of tall promises made with a view to grab votes and in the absence of a suitable legislation to compel the implementation of such manifestos, they are reduced to a mere rhetoric mainly to hoodwink gullible voters.
Usually politicians are heard saying if we fail to implement our election manifesto, please vote us out of power in the next elections, this seemingly reasonable argument, is made to win the confidence of the people. Political parties feel they can easily delude the electorate because of their ignorance and incapacity to understand politics.
We are all aware how invariably after elections, the party or politician that gets the mandate to rule for five years conveniently forgets to put into practice what was promised in the manifesto thereby committing with breach of trust or `fraud’ on the people.
Ahead of Tamil Nadu elections in March this year, a candidate’s election manifesto grabbed eyeballs after he promised mini helicopter and trip to moon. But later he said that it was to raise awareness among voters not to fall for freebies by political parties and but to choose good candidates.
In Goa, the election manifestos assumed importance in 2012 polls when political parties promised voters moon. BJP promised that it will abolish Valued Added Tax (VAT) on petrol making it cheaper and appoint the Goa Lokayukta within 100 days. It also promised to recover Rs 35,000 crore illegal mining loot and to make Konkani and Marathi as Medium of Instruction (MoI) at the elementary level.
The BJP also promised unemployment allowance of Rs 4500 per month to unemployed youth, which was never implemented after coming back to power.
The BJP initially reduced VAT on petrol making it cheaper and then reversed its decision claiming that prices of petrol were less than diesel in Goa.
Ahead of by-election for Panjim seat in May 2019, MLA Anastasio Babush Monserrate promised that they will remove off-shore casinos from River Mandovi within 100 days after getting elected. Till date these off-shore have not been relocated and get extension from the government.
Though BJP did not implement unemployment allowance, it’s now Aam Aadmi Party (BJP) national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has promised unemployment allowance of Rs 3000 per month to local youth until they get job, Rs 5000 per month for mining ban affected people, Rs 5000 per month for unemployed in tourism due to COVID-19 pandemic, among other freebies.
Can we allow politicians to make false promises before the elections and thereafter to amass wealth for themselves with impunity and without compunction, once the formality of elections are over? Should we not enact a law that bars politicians or political parties from making such promises to seek votes? Or else, have a law for compulsory implementation of the election manifestos that must be made enforceable on the politician or the political party or the alliance which emerges victorious and comes to power and who must also be made accountable to the public in general and the voters in particular and what was promised must be made legally binding?
It is high time that the Election Commission of India (ECI), New Delhi decided that all election manifestos should be in the form of a sworn affidavits on a stamped paper duly notarised and any failure to implement thereafter should be made punishable and the party or the individual politician, who fails to fulfil the promises made in the manifesto should be banned from contesting elections for a period of minimum six years.
Here is what legal luminaries say
Adv Rohit Bras De Sa says that election promises have no place in the Constitution of India and it is not binding on the elected government. Promises made by the candidates and political parties are inducements and not policy decisions to implement.
According to Adv De Sa, a promise or proposal in the election manifesto cannot provide to those who vote for a political party a right to claim that the elected representatives must implement the manifesto and that there is a breach of the Constitution of India or the constitutional convention if they do not implement it.
Adv De Sa further pointed out that in the past a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed seeking a challenge to the distribution of free colour television sets in election manifesto as violative of Constitution of India. But it was held that the promise made by a political party in the election manifesto for distribution of free items does not amount to a corrupt practice or even to an electoral offence. The court held that such a promise cannot be branded as waste of State exchequer.
Adv Abhijit Gosavi opined that there has to be some legislative framework to regulate election promises because it is defeating the basic ingredients of democracy. He said when candidates and political parties make election promises they should have obligation to implement or fulfil them after assuming power.
Adv Gosavi said that during elections, voters believe in candidates and political parties and after the polls they fool people with impunity. There has to be some consequences or deterrent. He also said that there has to be awakening among electorate falling for freebies and they should realise whether the promises made by candidates or political parties can be implemented.
Nagoa village panchayat member Adv Dilleshwar Naik said that candidates making election promises is a matter of debate and it should be decided in the larger interest of the people and the State and nation. Today candidates are declaring their criminal antecedents and also disclosing their assets and liabilities. In a similar way candidates at the time of filing nomination papers should be asked to swear affidavit on election promises and if they fail to deliver after coming to power then it should be treated as a criminal offence for swearing false affidavit.
“I strongly feel that there has to be public pressure on candidates who make election promises and they should be made accountable. The duty of elected representatives is to legislate laws and it is unfortunate they voters have not understood this concept. Goa being a literate State we can make a beginning by ensuring that candidates contesting elections posses some educational qualification,” he said.
“No law can hold candidates or political parties accountable and it is only the electorate who can teach them a lesson for failing to implement the election manifesto,” says Adv Amit Palekar, who recently joined AAP.
“It is an admitted fact that 99 per cent candidates cannot keep up weird election promises that they made to woo voters during the time of campaigning. It is either the elected representative is himself/herself accountable or it is voters who can hold them accountable and can teach them a lesson at the time of next hustings,” Adv Palekar said.
Adv Palekar said that Goan politicians know how to bend laws and they have found ways while engineering defections. Today elected MLAs are not accountable to the political party who gave them tickets to contest elections.
Congress senior spokesman Trajano D’Mello said that till today it is admitted fact that no political party has ever fulfilled election promises even after coming to power. Political parties who are aware of not coming to power or even parties fielding candidates less than the required mark are making election promises of giving moon and sun to the voters.
There cannot be any mechanism to check and see that whole election manifesto is implemented or pull up the candidates and political party for not fulfilling it. Election manifestos are documents of political parties but often it becomes difficult to implement at the administrative level, he said.
D’Mello said, “In India there is clear cut example of BJP promising Rs 15 lakh into the account of every Indian voter if voted to power in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. But after coming back to power the BJP leaders said that it was a `jumla’ and yet the party got elected in 2019 elections with more number of seats.
“Affidavits by candidates and political parties will not stand test of law to get entire manifesto implemented,” he said.
Reacting to promises made by the AAP, its State convenor Rahul Mhambre claimed that they are not election promises but guarantee by the party. “AAP has accomplished given guarantees in Delhi and the question is how it can be accomplished.”
Mhambre said that AAP will provide free electricity upto 200 units of free electricity if voted to power in Goa in the ensuing Assembly elections. This will benefit 87 per cent Goan consumers and the financial implication would be about Rs 187 crore, which is 0.85 per cent of the State budget.
During Coronavirus pandemic we provided oximeters to people. “We purchased it for Rs 500 per oximeters while the Goa government purchased them at whopping Rs 2500 per oximeter. We will weed out corruption and implement our guarantees,” he said.
