MIGRANTS: Of the 20,000 voters in Panaji spread over 30 wards at least 40% are migrants. Panaji MLA Babush Atanasio Monserrate, who has always controlled the migrant vote bank, started his campaign long before the civic elections were declared, by distributing bicycles to the Nepali migrant maid servants of Panaji

By Rajan Narayan

Joint Chief Electoral Officer of the Central Election Commission Narayan Navti has declined the offer to head the State Election Commission — as he is not qualified for the post! He has completed only 18 years in the Goa Civil Service against the minimum of 20 years required…

THE Goa government led by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, and General Secretary (BJP) Satish Dhond, is treating the State Election Commissioner more like a RSS Shakha than a responsible administration. Under the Constitution, beside the National Election Commission, every State has its own State Elections Commission. The State Election Commission is responsible for holding all the Municipal, Zilla Parishad and Panchayat elections in the State. The State Election Commission is an independent entity over which the State government has no authority.
However, the state of Goa has at least one very honest official, namely the former deputy chief electoral officer of the Central Election Commission, namely Narayan Navti. The Supreme Court had pulled up the State government for undermining the autonomy of the State Elections Commission. The State government had appointed the secretary to the Legal department as the State Election Commissioner to conduct the civic election, including that of the CCP and the Zila Parishad vacancies.
This was totally illegal as the State Election Commissioner has to be an independent individual who is not employed by the State government. Worst still, the directive for reservation of wards for various categories such as women, schedule tribes and castes and other backward classes, was issued by the director of Municipal Administration.
The reservations have been challenged in the case of five municipalities in South Goa. The Supreme Court initially stayed the order of the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court, cancelling elections to the five civic bodies in the south. Subsequently, however, the SC agreed with the Goa Bench of the Bombay HC and upheld the cancellation of elections to the civic bodies in the south. The SC had also taken strong objection to the secretary to the Legal department being appointed as the State Election Commissioner.
The State government than decided to appoint Narayan Navti as the new State election commissioner. Narayan Navti was very well qualified for the job as he has been holding the post of joint chief electoral officer of the Election Commission for several years. As the former joint chief electoral officer of the Election Commission, which conducts elections to Parliament and the Legislative Assembly, he is a man of integrity and very familiar with the rules governing the appointment of officers of both the Central Election Commission and the State Election Commission. It is obvious that the Legal Secretary of Goa O.P Garg, also does not know the rules and the qualifications required to be appointed the EC.
Rejecting the offer of the government Narayan Navti who has retired from government service and does not hold any post in the government has pointed out that the rules do not permit his appointment as the state EC. Navti has pointed out though he had completed 33 years in government service he had only served 18 years in the Goa Civil Service(GCS). The GCS is the state equivalent of the IAS at the Centre. Mr Natvi has further pointed out “While I satisfy all the other criteria, there is one that stipulates that only a person who has completed 20 years in the Goa Civil Service is eligible to be appointed the State Election Commissioner.” The honest officer has pointed out that he is not eligible as he falls two year short of the condition that the SEC should have been an officer of the Goa Civil Service for 20 years.
It is very commendable on the part of Narayan Navti to strictly go by the rules and not accept any favours from the government for which he is not entitled. The irony is at least as on Tuesday, March 16 the state had no EC though the CCP elections are scheduled for Sepember 20, 2021. According to the law the State government cannot conduct elections to any civic body including the CCP in the absence of the State Election Commission. It is the State Election Commission which appoints the officers in charge of the various polling booths and supervises the counting of the votes scheduled for counting on March 21, while the election to CCP itself is scheduled for March 20.
The election to the civic bodies in the south which have been cancelled by the SC are now scheduled to be held in May 2021. Meanwhile the Congress has raised another objection to the appointment of Navti as a State Election Commission. The Opposition, Congress, has pointed out that a vigilance enquiry had been ordered against Narayan Navti. The Congress wanted a clarification if the vigilance enquiry had been closed. Unfortunately, before anything could happen, Narayan Navti himself rejected the offer of the government.
Goa has a notorious record in the appointment of State Elections Commission. A former chief electoral officer who was also the chief secretary of Goa, RK Srivastava, was convicted by the CBI in a case pertaining to the revival of a defunct housing society in Delhi using forged documents. Navti was being probed by the vigilance department for a BA degree he had claimed to have obtained in 1968 from the Osmania University in Andhra Pradesh. Navti retired in March 2019 and according to the Congress was close to the BJP.
In view of the rejection of the SEC post by Narayan Navti, the government is desperately looking for a new candidate. The government search started after the law secretary, Chokha Ram Garg, holding additional charge of the SEC resigned from the post. Amongst those being considered are retired IAS officer Mihir Vardhan, Arun Desai and Daulat Hawaldar. Even recently promoted IAS officers like Sanjit Rodrigues and Meninio D Souza may be appointed SEC but they would have to resign from the IAS.
Meanwhile, former chairpersons of the Mapusa Municipality, Michael Carrasco and Prabhakar Vernekar, have approached the High Court stating that injustice was done to them by reserving their wards and two other wards of the Mapusa Municipal Council for two continuous terms. The High Court in its March 1 order has observed that as per the 30% reservation policy for women the number of wards reserved for women in Mapusa should be seven and not six as decided by the director of Municipal administration.
Several residents of Panaji are also grumbling about having their wards changed. A senior citizen who was a former professor of microbiology, Dr Joe D Souza, has complained that his vote has been shifted from the ward he normally voted in. The daughter of former customs official Tony Dias has been appointed the candidate for the ward, if she wins for the Babush Monserrate panel in all probability she will be taking care of the booking offices of all the casinos.
The SEC does not keep track of people who shift from their rented houses to other wards. I got a call from former councillor of the Dona Paula ward, Nelson Cabral, whose name had been removed from the voters list. It was restored after he approached the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court. Though he is aware that I don’t stay in Dona Paula any longer he wanted to give me a voter’s card. It is claimed that several migrant labor have multiple voting cards courtesy the BJP panel so that they can vote more than once!
Meanwhile the former Economic Development Corporation (EDC) Managing Director, Ramana Murthy, is the new State Election Commission. He assumed the office on Thursday. He will succeed Chokha Ram Garg. Ramana Murthy was a officer of the Goa Civil Service before he was promoted to the IAS.
Meanwhile all the political parties and groups including the Congress “We Ponjekars groups” and AAP seems to have come together to oppose the Babush Panel. Many BJP supporters also may not vote for the Babush Panel as it is not seen as an official BJP Panel.