The municipal elections have thrown up another strange dilemma. The focus now shifts to the budget presentation during the Legislative Assembly session which begins on March 24. The Opposition has submitted a joint representation to Goa Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari asking him to restrain Chief Minister Pramod Sawant from presenting the budget and instead settle for a Vote on Account for 2021-22 because of the election code of conduct in force. On the flip side, the CM is firm about presenting a full-fledged budget.
Technically, the government can still circumvent the election code because the dates of the second phase are not out yet. With the election schedule of the five municipalities which were engaged in a court tussle still not announced, the government may be looking at a small window of easing restrictions before the second phase begins. The question however is why is there a tearing hurry in presenting this year’s budget when the government in the past had opted for a vote on account when the situations demanded? Lest we forget, there has been a vote on account taken in February 2018 and again in 2019, when Manohar Parrikar was ailing and was unable to present a full-fledged budget or even deliver a detailed budget speech. A vote on account was passed by voice vote for the first five months of respective years.
Moreover, statistics reveal that nearly 85 per cent of the budget announcements of the previous year have remained unfulfilled, and schemes have not reached the populace. The government may blame it on the pandemic, but budgets have become outreach exercises especially when there is an election in sight. They are high on optics, but ultimately turn out to be low on delivery, and are designed to create a sanguine illusion of prosperity and wellbeing.
While the urgency of going for a full-fledged budget goes unexplained, the Opposition fear that the government will use the budget exercise to gain an unfair electoral advantage is justified, especially because there are major municipal councils of Margao, Mapusa and Mormugao, besides Quepem and Sanguem which lined up next for elections.
The underlying message of the High Court and the Supreme Court was that democratic principles must be respected, and there should be a level playing field for elections. Is the government living up to the spirit of these judicial orders? The process of appointing a new State Election Commissioner has once again exposed the intent in handpicking a figure-head, overlooking mandatory requirements. Thankfully, former Goa civil service officer Narayan Navti, who was first shortlisted, backed out citing lack of the required 20 years of experience in the civil service, and in the process saved the government of another embarrassment.
It appears that lessons have not been learnt and every opportunity appears to have been exploited to score electoral points. The ball is now in the court of the newly appointed, low-profile retired IAS officer WV Ramanmurthy who takes over as State Election Commissioner. Let fair democracy prevail.
