Goa: The Silence of the Voter an Engima for Polical Parties
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
If you ask any political
party, they will tell you that they will be in a position of strength to form
the next government. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has claimed they will win 26
seats, Congress feel they will get 23, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has made positive
claims of their own and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) has made no
secret that they cannot be ignored when forming the next government.
But word on the street, at
tintos and in the market place is completely different. Eight days after Goa
went to polls, there is no clarity. It is still the "silent voter"
who holds the key and the "silent voter" has not given any indication
which side the wind is blowing.
That has left political
parties in a fix. Everyone is wondering whether it will be a hung assembly.
Will the BJP ride the anti-incumbency factor to win again? Will a resurgent
Congress surpass its own tally? What about the independents? And if they get
elected, who will they back?
"I have never seen
such anger against any party, the way it was against the BJP. People wanted to
punish the party leaders for taking them for a ride," said Velingkar, who
damaged the image of top BJP leaders more than anyone else this election year.
Velingkar's anger towards
the BJP is understandable, but does he have a point?
What went wrong for BJP?
The government's slew of
schemes and doles may have earned solid support but anger against the party was
strong elsewhere. BJP's backtracking on some key issues ranging from special
status and recovery of illegal mining loot to unemployment doles of Rs 4,500
per month and zero tolerance to corruption irked voters, poll watchers say.
Demonetization, despite official bravado, was also a factor, particularly in
rural areas.
"Polling day was
payback time for the common man who suffered miserably. We had to stand in
queues instead of going to work and even then we were unsure of withdrawing Rs
2,000. Worse still, the government said people didn't suffer and tourism was
not affected," a voter said.
MGP leader and chief
ministerial candidate, Ramkrishna 'Sudin' Dhavalikar, also appeared to have had
enough of the BJP. "We had never seen such arrogance of their
workers," he said.
Strategic voting
Strategic voting too is not
ruled out in some constituencies. Voters who earlier didn't have any love for
the Congress eventually voted for the 'Hand' because they didn't want BJP in
power. Ditto with extreme right-wing voters, who were inclined towards the
MGP-GSM combine but put their trust in the 'Lotus', though on a smaller scale,
in a clear attempt to keep Congress - with MGP backing - away.
Read the full article: HERE
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