PANAJI
“It does not feel like there’s an election happening soon,” was the common sentiment expressed by a cross section of society with besides house to house visits, and social media few other means were employed by political aspirants on the issue.
With the situation at the state government being one where no single party can claim to be in power, political parties have by and large kept a low profile. Parties large and small, have gone to the extent been quick to distance themselves from local politics using the excuse that panchayat elections are apolitical.
“Our karyakartas at panchayat level are workers are working towards getting the candidates elected,” the BJP’s Sadanand Shet Tanavade told The Goan when asked about the party’s position on the upcoming panchayat polls.
He refused to offer even an estimate of how many candidates the party is backing in these polls saying that the party’s workers are contesting “in most of the panchayats across the state.”
On the other hand, Congress spokesperson Agnelo Fernandes, who is facing a battle on his hands with rival the BJP’s Michael Lobo very publicly backing two panels one in Candolim and another in Calangute, has justified his party’s reason to be low key about the upcoming panchayat elections.
“Even before, the Congress has not publicly said which candidates it is backing. Panchayat elections are not on party lines. It has always been that way and left to local leaders to handle the elections,” Fernandes said.
A similar line The ruling MGP too distanced itself from the panchayat polls toeing a similar line to that of the BJP, going to the extent of saying that in some cases the party’s members were fighting each other.
“There are also instances wherein more than one of our workers are contesting in the same ward. In such cases, we have told them that we will not interfere and instead, they will have to use their own strength,” Deepak Dhavalikar, President, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party said.
The MGP is backing candidates mainly in the constituencies of Ponda and Bicholim talukas but also in Dabolim and Santa Cruz constituencies. The Aam Aadmi Party’s state convener Elvis Gomes said that within the wards and the villages it is known who the AAP is backing. “We may have not announced any lists, but within the villages it is clear who is backed by the AAP,” Gomes told The Goan.
He said that across the state, the party’s backing roughly 100 candidates across several panchayats which works out to less than one candidate per panchayat.
New entrants, the Goa Suraksha Manch has, for its part, said that it is not involving itself in the panchayat elections and that its partymen were free to take their own decisions.
“About 10-12 of our party workers are contesting the polls, but it is purely in their individual capacity. These are mainly in Ponda, Shiroda and Sankhali constituency,” Hridaynath Shirodkar, Central Committee Member, Goa Suraksha Manch said. When the panchayat polls are won, we wonder who will claim victory?
