Model Code of Conduct Sentinel makes its way into Goa as the State heads into the election season. Sentinels will be assisting officials and election machinery though a cVigil (Citizen Vigil) App where photos and short video clips on poll violations can be uploaded through the app. And while a section of Goa’s legislators remained divided over traffic sentinels backing violators to the hilt, here comes an app that is meant to keep an eye on politicos themselves.
Much against the background of traffic sentinels being targets of mob fury, violators and politicians, the election sentinel makes a bold entry. No questions asked and no excuses given so far. If we may recall, arguments against traffic sentinels reached bizarre heights on the Floor of the House in the recently concluded Budget session. Calangute MLA Michael Lobo blamed sentinels for the traffic jams and feared that taking pictures of girls could lead to prostitution and spoke on how, because of such a situation, tourists have fled away from Goa. Congress Tivim MLA Nilkant Halarnkar sounded even more absurd when he raised concerns of violators committing suicide. That’s not all. Canacona legislator Isidore Fernandes argued that the scheme could result into couples getting divorced.
Cut to the election sentinel and we only hope that politicos don’t resort to drastic measures such as developing suicidal tendencies over the fear of losing an election and the crores of money they spent, or fear being dumped by their spouses after being caught on camera in an underhand deal. Lobo, Nilkant, Isidore, Quepem MLA Babu Kavlekar and Aldona MLA Glenn Ticlo who had reservations on traffic sentinels, need to express any such fears now before the stage is set for the Lok Sabha poll and the by-election. This is a scheme that can keep a vigil on all ‘jumlas’ during election time when huge money exchanges hands and freebies flow thick and fast.
If traffic violators expected their legislators to save the situation for them, poll code violators have no escape route in the election sentinel since the Election Commission takes over the entire process. There are chances that even top officials can be reprimanded and even suspended for bias and leniency. The election sentinel comes as a resounding slap on those who were trying to protect violators by rejecting the traffic sentinel on insane grounds.
On the flip side, this sentinel will face a huge challenge in Goa since it will require heavy deployment of quick-response teams fanned across the State. Moral policing has its fallouts and election sentinels could face mob clashes since the election fever picks up pace in Goa in the late hours. Enforcement is the biggest drawback the State is facing currently and the success of the sentinel lies there.
