The votes for the Corporation of the City of Panaji elections were cast yesterday and we will have to wait till tomorrow morning to know the results.
A big chunk of Ward No 28 besides Ward 29 and 30 comprises of Ribandar. As there are no exit polls for this election, one can only speculate by assessing the ground reality. Babush Monserrate for the last four days had stationed his three very prominent Taleigao henchmen at Ribandar to try and do what he does best, purchase every vote possible. Over the last two days it was an unending flow of money with each voter given between Rs 5000 to Rs 7000. For households having a cluster of 8 to 10 votes it was a lump sum of 2 to 3 lakhs per household that was paid. The irony is that some government officials, a few spouses of government servants and a few otherwise respectable citizens were involved in this unlawful and criminal exercise while seen distributing money house to house through the election eve night. Besides money a lot of houses were given fridges, galvanized, sand, cement bags and truck loads of laterite stones. Babush Monserrate is estimated to have drained over three crores on these three Ribandar wards alone. People have made the best of it as they all know that Babush Monserrate surfaces and shows his face only once every five years at election time. Even Santa Claus appears once a year! Observers however feel that despite having splashed such huge money, Babush Monserrate will be unable to win any of these three Ribandar wards. His only distant hope is success at Ward No 30 and that too by a very slender margin. So, did Babush Monserrate squander three crores and still lose three wards? Aires Rodrigues Advocate High Court C/G-2, Shopping Complex Ribandar Retreat, Ribandar – Goa – 403006 Mobile No: 9822684372 Office Tel No: (0832) 2444012 Email: airesrodrigu...@gmail.com Or airesrodrig...@yahoo.com You can also reach me on Facebook.com/ AiresRodrigues Twitter@rodrigues_aires www.airesrodrigues.com