The Congress party has accused BJP government of making a mockery of democracy while carrying out the delimitation of wards for the panchayat elections purely to serve its political interest.
PANAJI
In a statement to the media, AICC secretary Girish Chodankar said that the manipulations done by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and his coalition partners during delimitation “is nothing but an example before the younger generation that politics means only manipulation and autocracy with no level playing field.”
“People have reacted sharply to the delimitation manipulations even by threatening to boycott the elections since there are blunders to the extent of dividing voters of the same locality and even of the same family in two different wards. These are not human errors but deliberate moves made to benefit certain candidates of the ruling parties,” Chodankar said.
In a similar manner, Chodankar has alleged that the BJP-led government has reserved wards to qualify or disqualify certain candidates irrespective of presence of reserved category voters in the locality.
“The government has not followed any transparent criterion while earmarking reservation of all categories. In some cases where
reservation was not possible, ward numbers were changed to suit the needs of the BJP,” he alleged.
He also questioned why the delimitation is done by the Directorate of Panchayats which he said was a “brazen violation” when Article 243 K specifically gives powers to delimit and reserve the wards to the Goa State Election Commission and not the state government. The Goa Panchayati Raj Act, however, mandates that the state panchayats department complete the process of delimitation.
“It is being done in a dictatorial style and arbitrary manner by disrespecting rules, laws and democratic practice. The government is murdering democracy every day, they have compromised free and fair elections which is the foundation of any democracy,” Chodankar said.
He blamed the BJP for usurping power and subsequently compromising elections and people are losing confidence in democratic values.
“People of Goa will teach BJP and its allies a lesson at every available opportunity. Congress party will make efforts to bring affected people on one platform to fight against the dictates of the government,” he added.
