Late last week the Goa government via a cabinet decision announced that powers for conducting the entire exercise involving local body polls, be it municipal polls, the panchayat polls and the zilla parishad polls would be granted to State Election Commission (SEC). The cabinet on Friday cleared an ordinance granting the SEC complete authority over local body elections, including municipal councils, panchayats, and zilla panchayats, marking a major shift in the State’s electoral framework. The ordinance is expected to be promulgated next week.
The most crucial among the changes that the ordinance is expected to bring, is to give the State Election Commission powers as regards to reservation and delimitation of wards both in panchayat and municipal polls. Prior to this all delimitation and reservation exercises was being handled by the respective departments: Directorate of Panchayats and the Directorate of Municipal Administration.
It is no secret that leaving the process in the hands of the bureaucrats of the respective departments, who are ultimately under the control of the ruling party meant the reservation and delimitation exercise conducted ahead of the polls would usually be an effort to tilt the scales in favour of the ruling party’s candidates and against those of the opposition. This was in full display during the recently concluded elections to the Corporation of the City of Panaji, where last minute changes to the electoral map of the city left candidates, especially those of the opposition clueless as regards to which were their voters and which were not. Besides that, it also left several opposition strong contenders relieved of their stronghold wards and heavily tilted the scales in favour of the ruling party’s candidates. Word on the streets strongly suggests that that was the case.
It wasn’t the first time that such machinations have been deployed at the level of local body polls. Allegations of gerrymandering have accompanied almost every local body election that has taken place so far. The expectation is that with the task of drawing up constituencies and reservations for local body polls now being undertaken by the State Election Commission, which is an independent body, the process will be fair, transparent and not done in a way that benefits one party, or one group alone.
One hopes that the State Election Commission, which is also helmed by bureaucrats will act in a manner that is fair to all contestants, publishes delimitation maps and the list of reserved wards well in advance, in order to allow for all parties to have a fair chance of winning the polls. No doubt, that even with the SEC taking over the exercise, some allegations might persist, but if the methodology is transparent and consistent in its application, it will go a long way in ensuring that local body elections are not only fair, but also seen to be fair.
This is a move that is long overdue, and was in fact “recommended” by the Bombay High Court at Goa that was faced with having to deal with multiple petitions challenging the reservation or delimitation each time local body elections were held in the state.
One hopes that it also leaves past bickering behind.
