In some of the panchayats, the sarpanchas were elected unopposed while other panchayats held the formal elections to elect theirs. The procedure has been seamless so far only for BJP to claim rule over 128 panchayats. In other words, the party interfered in the functioning of panchayats while their supporters and the ones running behind power all announced their support to BJP. Of course, the party also has had to scramble to accomplish their power hungry goal. The tidings about luring the people for jobs has been a common bait. Apart from BJP, the MLAs from all the constituencies also tried to keep all the panchas under their control. In few cases, some did not bow down to the influence and took their independent decisions. But those examples are very rare. In some villages, some even surprisingly joined the ruling party at the last minute. In fact, the current scenario indicates that the panchayat elections were held at inter-party level. The panchayat elections are not held at party level as per the law but some politicians appear enthusiastic to make that happen. They were even moving in that direction to amend the law but had to retreat after the decision was met with widespread criticism. However, their desires have been evident post-elections. The saffron party had claimed that all the panchayats will have BJP-backed sarpanchas, deputy sarpanchas and according to them, they have succeeded in doing so. As per the ruling party, they were able to win in 128 panchayats out of 186. They had made similar claims during Zilla Panchayat and Municipality elections as well. It goes without saying that their claim is right regarding ZP elections. However, their claim on Municipality polls is as flawed as the one on panchayat elections. Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho even announced that after capturing zilla panchayats, municipality polls and now the gram panchayats, BJP’s next target is to win Lok Sabha elections.
This just proves that the ruling party used these elections for their own selfish gains. The Law has kept panchayat and municipality elections at a distance. The law has to be respected but the political leaders have done the exact opposite. This has led to creation of baffling situations in some of the panchayats. Sanvordem MLA Ganesh Gaonkar sounded his claim on all the 7 panchayats from the constituency. However, the sarpanch of Dharbandora Balaji Gawas had contested against Ganesh Gaonkar himself in March on MGP’s ticket. But now, he is with Gaonkar. Gawas says he backed Gaonkar for the betterment of the village. If tomorrow he refuses to work for the saffron party he will be threatened with no confidence motion.
In Mandrem panchayat, seven panchas tabled no-confidence motion against the sarpanch Mahesh Konadkar merely within 24 hours of being elected. BJP’s former MLA Dayanand Sopte had announced his claim over the panchayat but Mandrem’s current MLA Jeet Arolkar played his part. A similar incident had taken place a few years back in Old Goa where one of the panchas went against the then MLA and was elected sarpanch. As one would expect, the respective MLA played his pawns overnight to move a no-confidence motion. The changes should have been made then to prevent such incidents. How can a no-trust motion be tabled against someone when the person has not even begun his work? The change in the law is inevitable.
