Fair elections FN
As the dust settled on yet another election, and the politicians dig in their heels for the long wait till counting, it makes sense to look at the pressing need for fairness in elections. We do not know if it's fair to expect Goa's election officials to be as tough-talking and unabashedly fair-minded as some in Delhi have been. But a lot remains to be desired. A warning against the ferrying of voters -- a 'corrupt practice' as per the model code of conduct -- came from the authorities only after a comment in this newspaper. Yet, many parties simply continued with this practice, largely unchecked. Complaints have emerged that the party in power, the BJP, was allowed to put up banners and posters in public places. (Earlier too, violations of the public property defacement law have been ignored.) Calangute's MLA had an interesting observation. He claimed that voter queues were moving slowly in Opposition strong-holds. The implication was that longer queues might help to discourage 'unwanted' voters. Whatever the truth, this only underlines the need for appointing upright officials. Is this possible in a bureaucracy where almost everyone has political god-fathers, and many owe their jobs to one dispensation or another? To appreciate this point, look at those departments where top-to-bottom changes are being implemented; whatever the ostensible reasons, the political goals are clear. Let's not be lulled into forgetting to be vigilant. Delhi's newspaper 'The Hindustan Times' has carried an interesting couple of articles, over the past fortnight, of how EVMs could possibly be manipulated. Whether it was due to sheer incompetence or malicious intent, the dropping of voters names from the rolls calls for a serious probe. Nobody has yet given a satisfactory answer as to when exactly these names were dropped, on what grounds, who took the decision, and whether a common yardstick was adopted in all cases. Is Goa's former Governor, Mohammed Fazal, still ordinarily resident in this state? Is it fair for him to get a vote here, when he has almost no plans or likelihood to return, while those slogging it out on the high-seas, in the Gulf, or even in another part of our state are deleted from the electoral rolls simply because they have shifted temporarily? Vigilance is the key. Citizens who expect a more accountable system obviously need to work harder to build transparency and accountability into the system. Parliamentary democracy is too fragile to be left in the hands of politicians and officials alone. ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
