With the elections to the Goa Assembly round the corner, the uncertainty that denied the state good governance the past few years is now seen ‘percolating’ the public psyche as well.

The masses are yet undecided over their choice of representatives so much so that on the poll-day many intend resorting to flipping a coin where the toss will enable them to identify their choice of candidates. 

What has made the right choice so complicated and difficult for the body of voters to arrive at? To be frank, the Goan electorate has never had so much to choose from. It’s virtually a feast of options! Served a ‘thali’ of delectable alternatives, the menu looks so tantalizing. 

However, it is this lip-smacking list of ballot-delights which has further complicated matters for the voting public. It’s as if the voters find themselves between the devil and the deep blue sea.

In such a difficult situation where there are, not two, but many equally unpleasant choices, one can only empathize with their predicament. 

Either their favourites have ‘migrated’ from their party of choice, or their party has dumped on them a highly unwanted candidate from some other dispensation; or, if they are to zero-in on the independent option, they stand to be accused of going against their ideological perceptions. 

These elections hence appear to be marked by the lack of right appeal which prevents any constituency to have a decisive say on the unanimous choice it could otherwise have made. 

Talks about the multitudes eating into the secular vote base of many established parties is that truth which could bring to fore the unexpected win of a candidate popularly detested in an electoral district.  

Political polarization on the other hand, although credited with the uninterrupted run of the saffron-party in the country, will not necessarily impact the current elections in the state along these lines. 

The reluctance to plan an all-out ‘Mission Salcete’ by the BJP this time does not however eclipse the saffron-brigade’s ardent wishes to have the Lotus bloom in the Catholic-dominated taluka of Goa.   

Even then, traditional vote-banks will undoubtedly decide the electoral fate of quite a couple of leaders. 

Let us take Margao for instance!

As the commercial capital of the state, people from various walks of life populate the city and its suburbs. It is nevertheless an irony that migrants, as always, will have a major say in who steps into the haloed precincts of the state Assembly from the constituency this time. 

This is primarily because the chief contenders to the coveted throne command their respective areas of lordship in the sprawling slum areas of the constituency. 

With another high-profile national party having made a foray into the Goan political arena, indications are that there would be a discernible change in the way Goa votes this once.    

But with the ‘adla badli’ of members that has come to characterize Goan politics ever since the announcement of elections, it is difficult to conceive of any major upheavals in the current political situation in the state.   

So what better options does the Goan electorate stare at? For that matter, when we speak of a glut in the alternatives available in these elections, what and whom are we exactly alluring to? 

Having settled into their respective grooves after a merry-go-round chase for ‘worthwhile occupation’, the present lot of legislators are busy in their respective war-rooms sizing up their opponents and fortifying their positions. 

Maybe their allegiance lies somewhere else now, but consumed by the obsession to regain power, compromises are but natural ‘recourses’ which they seem to fall upon readily, and unabashedly.  

Practically every leader, even long-standing ones, seems to have embarked upon an ‘experimental’ course. While many have been compelled to do so due to ‘conspiracies’ within their units, others seem to have charted the independent course more willingly. 

A ‘change’ is what most of our legislators seem to pine for. But a change from what, one may ask? And why do such thoughts occur only when their stars in their respective parties are on the wane?   

While most of those ‘turning a new leaf’ begin their justifications for deserting their erstwhile organizations as the need for the ‘constituencies’ to have a change, they forget that it is the ‘constituents’ who should be more vociferous with their demands for a riddance of such garbage which has the tendency to get scattered helter-skelter by the strong breeze of elections.

If one is only to make a ‘perusal’ of the available alternatives, one wouldn’t be surprised to learn that there is nothing new that the electorate is being offered. 

Same old faces, the usual political alliances which come into ‘being’ on the eve of the elections and a selection of independents – an inevitable scenario that’s synonymous with Goa now. 

So, Goa’s defection carnival is more of an amusement than anything sensational. But, much to its chagrin, the electorate can rest assured that any legislator who wins on a party symbol in Goa is certain to switch loyalties mid-way through, unless he/she is in the ruling.

The trends of the last ‘season’ confirm it! 

On the other hand, those few in power who are ‘forced’ to shift their allegiance in the fag end of the term are those who are necessarily ‘sacrificed’ in the interests of the party’s electoral chances. They constitute the ‘rebel’ factions capable of upsetting the best-laid plans of their parties.  

Any which way one looks at it, it is a politics of convenience that Goa has been subscribing to the past few years, but with still none the wiser about the queer collusions involved. It is amidst such a scenario that Goa goes to polls! 

Isn’t it time that we, the people, tried unravelling some of the illogical and ridiculous ‘intrigues’ being played out -- and creating alternatives -- elected our representatives purely on merit, and for their true worth? Are we too late to contemplate such an option?