MARGAO: With the municipal elections just two days away, the candidates are on a war footing and their campaign trails are in the last lap. In the last three elections that Goa has witnessed, new faces and a huge change wave has succeeded. The BJP won the Assembly polls in 2012 with many new faces elected. The ZP polls of 2013 on party lines also saw 60 percent of new faces elected, and the 2014 parliament elections also had a new face from South Goa. All parties have decided to back new faces to catch the voter’s eye.
The question here is whether Margao, a cosmopolitan city with commercial interests, will consider anti-incumbency and move to vote out the old faces after Adv Rajeev Gomes decided to run a campaign of ‘vote for a change’ in Margao. However, the noted criminal lawyer’s campaign was hit hard when his wife campaigned for sitting Chairperson Arthur D’Silva, who Rajeev accuses of many scams. Rajeev was red-faced and got her to pull out. He admitted that he had represented Arthur in many cases, there was a mistake, and it was rectified.
Savio Coutinho, who is vying for a fourth term in the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) after taking a sabbatical and getting his wife elected since the ward was reserved for women, asserts, “However close you are to your local MLA or even a minister, you will contact your councillor for you basic needs of water, electricity supply, gutters, drains, sewage, and to clean up and defog the locality to prevent diseases.”
Savio believes that the councillor is the provider of basic necessities, and being available on call for the people is what converts to victory.
Similarly, Doris Texeira, who also seeks a fourth term, feels that it is importance to have a relationship with the people. She said, “I won two polls from Khareband and Pedda in Margao and lost one election. Now I am seeking re-election with a whole new area of Shirvoddem added to my ward. But I know my wards members by name, especially the women. The women in the ward hold the key to an election. The key is a relationship to push out any anti-incumbency factor.”
The middle-aged Raju Nayak, also vying for a fourth term, feels that only performance and personal relationships can take councillors “across the bridge”, and that’s what needs to be asserted on a campaign trail.
Arthur D’Silva, a one-time councillor and two-time chairperson in the same term, is seeking re-election from a different ward and also has certain thoughts on the anti-incumbency vote. He stated, “People raised issues of what I didn’t do, but also look what was done in this term. The garbage plant kicked off, the illegal fish vendors at Margao were pulled out, the land for multi-storey parking is at least marked for that and not any other purpose and I introduced biometric system in the municipality. Now it’s time to ask for a second term to remove the creases in what was ironed out. It’s my job to tell the voter that we’ve performed, but we also need to do better.”
MMC Deputy Chairperson Dadhi Mayenkar, in his bid for a second term, has asserted that tender works are pending because of a vigilance campaign and also because the BJP government gave no funds to the municipality for three years for development. He added, “So when people confront me and ask why to vote for me, I tell them to ask the ruling government why no funds were given for Margao. They need to understand that we’re performing with the pennies disbursed by the government.”
Babita and Sadanand Naik, the husband-wife councillor duo, is also seeking re-elections for a second and third term respectively. They’re known for touring their wards from 6 am to 7 pm and they are banking on that personal touch and assurances to take them home.
Similarly, Glen Andrade, a new face in Ward 10, is going from ward to ward pointing out the illegalities of his three opponents in running restaurants and reminding voters to assert the anti-incumbency vote and bring change.
The Anti-incumbency factor is something that seems to take a back burner at council polls and the personal touch is what’s the necessity, explains senior citizen Raju Dessai from Borda.
