If the elections become all about fixing, where does the innocent voter go?

l Seat fixing of the highest levels is on the cards between the ruling party, the Delhi party & the conductor -led party

l Unique fixing methods and formulae are being devised to leave the common voter out of the equation in the final decision making

The ruling party seems to be making a very comfortable arrangement to form the next government in Goa. Isn’t it surprising that with so much of anti-incumbency and a negative wind against the ruling party, it is showing absolutely no signs of worry?

At the same time, the Delhi party seems to be in no hurry to finalise candidates or state how many seats it is contesting, while the Conductor (ticket distributor) led party is merrily offering tickets and also inducting people suddenly into the party who aspire to contest from a certain seat. Interestingly there is already an established potential candidate is some of the seats where new candidates have joined. It is clear that the conductor knows and wants to create a conflict and then create rebels, who will contest and cut votes.

The Delhi party and the conductor party (led by the liberal ticket distributor) want to be like comfortable cushions for politicians, when they are tired of travelling and holding meetings.

There are different ways this seat fixing will happen

1 Trojan Horse or snake in the grass method

This is done by inducting new candidates in the conductor party. If fixing for the ruling party is the main agenda, then this the hidden agenda also becomes clear. In a handful of constituencies, let’s take random picks like Cumbarjua, Nuvem, Quepem these patterns are emerging and need to be closely watched. 

One person from the ruling party joins the conductor party, secretly backed by the parent ruling party with a setting with the conductor party head. This candidate will be backed totally by the ruling party, to defeat its own official candidate who it wants to isolate politically. 

After the election, this conductor party MLA will resign, citing “development” as the reason, join the ruling party, contest a by-election, again backed by the might of the ruling party and in all likelihood win. It’s actually a win-win. The conductor will get to count the MLA as a part of his success, till he/she defects while the ruling party gets a fresh MLA f their own to return

Recent Trojan horses of the past have been Subhash Shirodkar, Dayanand Sopte, Vishwajit Rane and Rohan Khaunte (who was officially backed by the Congress and then became a minister in the BJP-led government) to name a few. As an Independent he didn’t even have to resign and contest a byelection.

2 Mass defection

This has become so common in Goa that it doesn’t need much explanation. In July 2019, 10 of the remaining 15 Congress MLAs defected to join the BJP bypassing the anti-defection law. With mass defections of the kind, no longer surprising, shocking or even shameful, this may well be repeated post the 2022 elections by the very same players.

Shockingly, these defections have almost got a stamp of approval. For instance, after Panjim MLA Babush Monseratte was expelled for his anti-party activities from the Congress, it was GPCC president who brought him back and gave him a ticket

3 Vote Splitting method

The Delhi party may well be a pioneer in the art of vote splitting, especially in the minority-dominated areas. A clear vote division of the anti-ruling party votes between the conductor party and the Delhi party in decisive minority-dominated constituencies will help the ruling party in very many seats. This grand plan needs to be identified.

4 Vote transfer

This is another phenomenon that is likely to be witnessed. This will be like an on-ground version of a digital money transfer. Vote transfer happens when one party simply tells its close supporters to vote for another party (especially the ruling party). But the transfer can happen even from the BJP side or from other smaller groups. At the end of the day, for the smaller groups, it’s not about losing deposits, but more about what’s getting deposited in their private fund.

For the smaller parties and even the others, the election is fixed lottery

Sadly, it has come to this. But this lottery will be fixed with the result known where the losers will be heavily given “political relief” amounts. Do you want to take chance at your future with this kind of a lottery? 

These elections are fixed to such an extent that the small voter remains just a bystander or spectator.

People are already feeling this. There is a vacuum that has been created for a real people’s party to come into the picture with high credibility. This party can be from Goa or from the outside with proven and impeccable credentials. 

If people think outside the box and re-look at the various ways in which votes might managed, the time to lend a helping hand is now.