With the results of the Corporation of the City of Panaji and six municipal councils being declared, the BJP has claimed victory in five of the six municipal councils while the most impressive victory was in the Corporation of the City of Panaji.
The Monserrate panel, that was backed by the State BJP leadership, has won an unprecedented 25 out of the 30 seats up for grabs something that even former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar could not manage to do in the 25 years that he represented the city including the years after he upgraded the state capital from a council to a corporation. The result has left many scratching their heads over how it has been achieved -- Did the core and staunch BJP vote also shift to Monserrate, a man they once derided but who now, like it or not, has come to represent what the BJP stands for in the capital city? Did the city’s Congress base that used to always ensure that the party’s candidate won at least five to six thousand votes in the city at the assembly polls also leave the party?
And what of the party’s old guard comprising Utpal Parrikar, Siddharth Kuncaliencar and Dattaprasad Naik, who chose to stick by their beliefs at the cost of antagonising the party leadership? Finally, the joining of the BJP and what was once the lone ‘opposition’ force in the capital city proved too much for the current crop of their challengers.
Elections are a complicated and nuanced game even if the final result appears to overwhelmingly favour one side. Several of the victories that the Monserrate panel secured were from narrow margins. The panel also lost some of its long time councillors to candidates by the opposition, something that gives credence to the view that all is not lost for the opposition. But at the end of the day, it is the capital city that needs to benefit and something that the newly elected bunch of councillors should not lose sight of. For Monserrate, to have won spectacularly despite not even setting out his manifesto ahead of the elections -- very conscious that almost none of the promises of his previous manifesto have been fulfilled -- it is all too easy to fall into the trap of believing that no matter what he does or doesn’t do, he’ll still get re-elected.
Monserrate now faces no pressure of having to in a manner that the community, rather than individual voters or groups of voters benefit. With his re-election as the Panaji MLA virtually assured, especially if he decides to stick to the BJP he can even let go of the pretence of having a manifesto ahead of the next elections. It is a trap that is now staring at the ruling BJP in Goa -- One hopes that the newly elected ruling members are conscious of, and carefully avoid the trap that’s all too easy to fall into. Their work begins now with having to sort issues like garbage handling, proper roads and footpaths and civic amenities -- and does not end with a victory parade. If they do not deliver, they can still claim they will be elected, but we as a society will be significantly worse off with each passing election.
