The timely intervention of the High Court has exposed the politically manipulated reservation of Municipal wards that the ruling BJP was malafiedly attempting to get away with. The High Court verdict has also exposed the lack of autonomy and independence in the functioning of the State Election Commission (SEC. However the High Court’s deliverance of Justice would be complete only when the officials and politicians responsible for this skewed and slanted reservations are brought to book and penalised.
The High court has rightly stopped this absolute fraud on the very democratic process which if allowed would have been a sheer mockery of the electoral process. It is anguishing that the SEC abdicated in its Constitutional duty and allowed the whole process to be dictated and driven by the politicians in Power. The SEC is a constitutional authority which has to function truly independent of the powers to be. For the last over four months Goa is without a SEC while the charge has been given to the Law Secretary. How can you expect a bureaucrat who is working under the Government to function impartially as a SEC? In other States the delimitation and reservation of Wards is all done by the SEC. Unfortunately in Goa this work for the Municipalities is entrusted to the Director of Municipal Administration and at the Panchayat level to the Director of Panchayats. It is imperative that delimitation and reservation should both be entrusted to the SEC with proper rules and guidelines framed and that there is no interference from Ministers and ruling MLAs in this process which ought to be totally transparent and extremely fair beyond any doubt. In a democracy free and fair elections are fundamental. In Goa the SEC conducts the elections to the Zilla Parishad, Municipalities, Panchayats and the Corporation of the City of Panaji. The appointment of a SEC for Goa must be expedited and should be a person of Eminence who can function very independently without any political influence or interference. There is an urgent need to restore the sanctity and now lacking sanity at the SEC by empowering it with independence and autonomy by having all the safeguards in place to guarantee that it never again does succumb to any political pressures or maneuvers whatsoever. It is said that organizing free and fair elections is sacrosanct and more important than the result itself. Abraham Lincoln had said “The ballot is stronger than the bullet”. And so should it truly be. 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