PARTIES CAST YOURDICE DECISIVELY Elvidio Miranda Absence of pre-poll alliances of parties that will support one another post poll will be counter productive due to splitting of votes instead of forging pre-poll alliances that will reinforce one another. If going alone is what parties want to do, then the people of Goa should know in advance which parties are likely to support major parties that may stake claim to form the government. Since as of now there are eleven parties such as BJP,, Congress, TMC, Aam Aadmi, GFP, NCP, MGP, MDF, Revolutionary Goans, Goencho Avaaz and Shiv Sena, every party has to make a clear delineation of post-poll tendency which should be revealed by the contesting parties so that the electorate will know in advance and thus vote depending at least on tendencies. As of now, with so many parties in the fray, it is possible that the Goan electorate will be a confused lot as to which party they should vote for. The fiasco of the last Assembly elections should not happen again. Ideally there should be a clear two party alliances which will pit only the ruling party alliance and the opposition party alliance. Such a scenario will definitely lead to a different equation. Elections in Goa should be a fore runner of what is in store for national elections in 2024. Dummy candidates should not be used to split votes.
