One of the big challenges being faced by all political parties is not just identifying their candidates, but ensuring that if they pick one, two or three other ticket hopefuls do not jump to other parties. This is what happens when candidates are chosen by the parties without waiting for the people to come up with a shortlist of names and then letting the people themselves in a democratic way choose one on merit.
While such a method of selecting candidates, where people are directly involved, is the best for democracy, something which Herald has always advocated, no political party has endorsed this as the best way to involve the common people in the candidate selection process.
At the same time, different groups of people in constituencies have the right to select their own candidates, across parties. Ultimately MLAs are people’s representatives. But more often than not High Commands of parties take control of candidate selection, under the pretext of talking to the local people and leadership.
The process of candidate selection is a part of the campaign strategy. Where people and party people are fooled
To get momentum in any constituency political parties are speaking to everyone and making all those they are speaking to believe that they are the potential candidates. Thus, in many seats, there are separate people doing door-to-door and other campaigns, including spending their personal funds with the assumption that they will be the chosen one. So, what is the strategy?
– Two or three hopefuls will start work which will get momentum
– The chance of all uniting to support one can always be expected
– The candidate is not declared till very close to the last date for the filing nominations. This is done to make it very difficult for those not selected to discuss and fight the elections as an independent or on the ticket of any other party
– At times even two or three of the shortlisted ones are asked to file the nominations and told to wait for the submission of the symbol allotment. At the last moment, one of two or three candidates gets the symbol.
All this is in addition to the standard practices of keeping a team of dummy candidates ready to file nominations, with the principal objective of splitting votes of other parties and opponents. These are mainly based on caste and community lines. Parties could even go to the extent of fielding an SC, ST, OBC or even specifically a “Bhandari” or a Saraswat Brahmin candidate to split votes. This is the real nature of vote splitting, which everyone knows but conveniently ignores, pushing other fake narratives to cover this.
Don’t people deserve better? Don’t they have the right to choose and then know the final choice well before the elections?
Both the people of each constituency as well as those planning to contest need to be given enough time to think and choose and to put the right issues forward during the campaign. While the main activity of the elections is the D-day, when votes are cast, a proper choice is possible when there is enough time for the relationship between the voter and the potential candidate. As one elderly gentleman in Mapusa remarked recently, “This is like making the bride and the bridegroom meet on the wedding day.”
An early selection of candidates allows the voters to either get to know or get to know their candidate better in terms of his or her priorities, vision and the capacity and will to deliver. It is ideal of the people of Goa to have the choice of even having debates among candidates to help them choose better.
These are all methods that any state or society, wanting a healthy democracy, where people are given the widest opportunities to make the right choice, would like to adopt and adapt. But for political parties, this is just not a priority.
If the right steps are adopted towards choosing the right candidates, this will happen
– The politics of blackmail will stop. There will be honesty and transparency, which will help candidates have better faith in their party
– If candidate selection is done early, it will allow parties and candidates
time to go and explain their vision, philosophy, and ideas and have time to get and process feedback. This is so important in a democracy
– Thirdly, in a democracy, the right to contest elections is a fundamental right. A person not getting a ticket has the democratic right to content the elections either as an independent or under the symbol and banner of any other party. They not only have the right but it is the duty of those conducting elections to allow time for those who had hoped to get a party ticket, exercise their plan B.
It is clear, that the ruling government especially, but all other parties in general, have made elections into a strategy to win without depending too much on people or giving them time and room to make an informed choice. And that is the reason why every decision including alliances and tie-ups are pushed back right till the last minute which then gives people, literally no choice but to accept what is thrust upon them.
All parties should declare candidates three months before the term of Assembly ends finalize the list within a week of notification
The term of the Assembly is fixed even if the day of polling is not. It is fair to expect that all parties declare their list of candidates three months before the end of the term of the Assembly with the provision of making changes and declaring the final list no later than seven days after the polling date is announced by the Election Commission.
If parties do not accept this, it will be clear that they have hidden and not so hidden motives which INSIGHT has highlighted in this piece. If transparency and honesty in candidate selection have to be achieved, then these important steps have to be taken to restore people’s faith in the electoral system.
