A more than a month-long intense campaign and more than six months of politicking that have preceded that will culminate in voting that will take place today. Political parties have been using every trick in the book to win over voters and this year too they have attempted to woo the voters with means both legal and illegal, ethical and unethical.
However, one cannot escape the feeling that the kind of tricks used in this campaign have been decidedly sinister and have taken the tricks to depths that are even more difficult to catch using technology that is perhaps for the first time being used in an election in Goa.
From automated calls, in which it is difficult to adequately assess who is paying for or with what intention, sending out deliberately misleading calls to confuse the voters or using fake news and doctored images sent out in the name of legitimate news organisations to use social media to campaign in a way that the Election Commission cannot track, this campaign period has truly taken ethics to a new low.
The Election Commission too has failed to update itself on the myriad ways that the candidates and political parties have been deceiving the voters. It has miserably failed to tackle these violations and has proven to be utterly incapable of tracking the violations happening right in front of the eyes of the voters. Instead, the commission has been focussing on cosmetic changes decorating select booths with eco-friendly material, holding competitions for the youth and the like but has been found wanting when it comes to enforcing the crucial part of the mandate.
That said, the blame for the depths to which the campaign has plunged lies equally with the political parties. It is said that political parties are the gatekeepers of democracy. The responsibility to play within the rules lies firstly with them. That you will not be caught is no excuse to break the law much less a justification. Instead, we have seen that political parties are violating the code with impunity and are devising newer ways to outfox the commission and the voter.
If this were a football game and the players decide that they are going to deliberately play rough just because the referee is incompetent they are only doing themselves a disservice. Just as players realize that the responsibility to play fairly is primarily theirs and not that of the referee, so too should political parties realize that the more unfair the election, the more they are losing the confidence of the people.
One hopes that the voter will not fall prey to the machinations of the political parties and candidates especially those who are using unethical means to give themselves an undue advantage and will vote as per their conscience and considering the common good rather than personal benefit.
The right to vote is a right that people have fought and given their lives for, not the least the freedom fighters who fought so that we may have ourselves a self-governing democracy. Let us not waste this right and fall prey to cynicism or be disillusioned by the insipid state of affairs that our political parties have served up for us.
