INDICTED: Though there are more than a dozen aspiring candidates with criminal records, all political parties consider them ‘winnable’ and give them tickets as they have not yet been convicted!

By Rajan Narayan

Despite the directives of the Supreme Court and the Chief Election Commission, more than a dozen candidates with criminal records have been given tickets by all the political parties, ranging from the Congress to the BJP and the “bhaile” parties like Aam Admi Party (AAP) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC). This is because the legal system considers all politicians with a criminal record innocent till proven guilty. And politicians know how to delay a decision on their cases indefinitely.

DESPITE the directives of the Supreme Court and the Chief Election Commission, Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate and Jennifer Monserrate have been given tickets by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The oldest accused to be given a ticket is Mauvin Godinho of the power theft case who is expected to contest from Dabolim on the BJP ticket. Among the candidates who have been convicted and are likely to get a Congress ticket is Mickky Pacheco from the Benaulim seat. The Godfather General of Goons Rudolf Fernandes is confident of getting the ticket to contest from Santa Cruz. His name already figures in the list of general secretaries of the Congress. Churchill Alemao who had been accused of smuggling is expected to get a TMC ticket along with a ticket for his daughter Valanka from Navelim.
There are several other politicians accused of serious crimes, like Dayanand Mandrekar and Milind Naik who quit his ministry following charges of molestation and sexual harassment, he may also get a ticket. All parties in Goa will claim that the reason why they have given tickets to their candidates is because of their “winnability.” Even though the EC has made it clear that winnability cannot be the basis for giving a candidate with a criminal record a ticket to contest assembly or parliamentary elections.

CRIMINALS WIN
THE problem is that both the Supreme Court and Election Commission have only barred political parties from giving tickets to politicians who have been convicted. Technically, the thousands of candidates across the country who have committed the most grievous crimes, may be given tickets to stand for elections because they are not convicted yet. In the eyes of the law and of the political parties, a sitting MLA or aspiring candidate is not a criminal till he has been convicted for an offense which carries a sentence of seven years.
Under the law, even the hate-mongers who were part of the Hindu Sansad in Haridwar, who openly demanded the killing of Muslims, are innocent till proven guilty beyond the shadow of any reasonable doubt.
The most important directives of SC and the EC are the fast tracking of the cases pending against politicians. For instance, the case against Babush Monserrate has been pending in the High Court of Goa itself for the last seven years. Till Advocate Aires Rodrigues pointed out that the interim bail cannot be extended beyond six months without the permission of the court. It is our judicial system which is responsible for political parties giving tickets to criminals. The majority of them may not have been convicted yet but as long as the final verdict is not declared, they can continue to contest elections even from jail.

NOTABLE EXCEPTIONS
THE only three notable politicians who were convicted and barred from contesting the polls are Lallu Prasad Yadav, former chief minister of Bihar, the late Jayalalithaa, former CM of Tamil Nadu and Gopal Kanda, who owns Big Daddy casino and who is still serving a sentence for rape in a Haryana jail.
The Mauvin Godinho case was registered in 1997 when Pratapsingh Raoji Rane was the chief minister. The Rane cabinet had taken a decision not to extend rebates in power tariffs to steel rolling mills. Dozens of steel rolling mills had flocked to Goa to take advantage of the low power tariffs as electricity is the main raw material for steel rolling mills. Despite the cabinet decision and the subsequent order, Mauvin Godinho, who was then the power minister, gave major rebates in tariff to Mormugao Steel, owned by a close relative of the Mittal family which owns Vedanta. Interestingly, the complaint against Mauvin Godinho was filed by the then Leader of Opposition Manohar Parrikar. Since Pratapsingh Raoji Rane testified that Mauvin Godinho had no power to extend rebates to power mills after the cabinet decision, the case was sent for trial.
The Pratapsingh Raoji Rane government was toppled by Francisco Sardinha. The four-member BJP group in the Legislative Assembly extended support to Francisco Sardinha. Among the Congress rebels who joined Francisco Sardinha in toppling Rane was former power minister Mauvin Godinho. Since Manohar Parrikar and the BJP were part of the Sardinha government, the former defence minister tried to withdraw the case against Mauvin Godinho.
Unfortunately for him it was too late as Mauvin Godinho had already been charge sheeted. Once the case is charge sheeted, it is the property of the Court and even the complainant cannot withdraw it. Unfortunately for Mauvin Godinho, the court has rejected his plea to withdraw the case and has directed that the trial should continue. Hopefully, this means that the trial will be fast tracked.
It is possible that one of the reasons why Mauvin Godinho quit the Congress and joined the BJP was with the hope that the case against him would be withdrawn. Perhaps it would have been if Justice Ranjan Gogoi, very close to Narendra Modi, had not retired by the time the case came up.
Similarly, 20 years ago, the case was filed against Dayanand Narvekar for fraud and cheating in the notorious ticket cricket scam. A one-day international match was held in Goa between Australia and India at the Nehru stadium in Fatorda. Dayanand Narvekar, who was the president of the Goa Cricket Association (GCA) printed far more duplicate tickets then the capacity of Fatorda Stadium! Even the number of fake VIP cards distributed was much more than the quantity authorised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The result was that those who had genuine tickets were kept out of the stadium which was occupied with those with fake tickets. The asli ticket holders were lathi-charged on the orders of Manohar Parrikar, who was then both home minister as well as chief minister. The case against Dayanand Narvekar is still pending in court. Despite his background, the fake ODI cricket match ticket scamster and alleged molester has been accepted by the Aam Admi Party (AAP).

LAW IS TORTOISE
THE problem with the judicial system is that while criminals run very fast like the rabbit, the judicial process is slower than the tortoise. An influential accused like Dayanand Narvekar or Mauvin Godinho can get the hearing indefinitely postponed particularly if they are in power. This is because the director of prosecution who represents the government can keep asking for adjournments. Even if the accused politicians are convicted in the District Courts, they can appeal to the High Court where their case may take a decade to come up. If the HC upholds the conviction by the District Court, the politician can appeal to the SC.
THERE is such a severe shortage of judges that at every stage, it may take years if not decades for the case to come up, which is why political parties are able to continue to give tickets to politicians with criminal records. The Chief Justice has not clarified whether politicians who have been charge sheeted can be barred from contesting the election till the case is decided.
It is commendable that the Supreme Court has directed the fast tracking of cases against politicians with criminal records. But even so with so many opportunities for appeal, the case may take decades to produce a verdict. The directive of the Chief Election Commissioner insisting that those with a criminal record, should provide the details three times in the electronic and print media, may also not help.
Political parties who are expected to give an explanation for giving tickets to candidates with a criminal record will simply point out that the candidates concerned have not yet been convicted. The only way political parties can be stopped from giving tickets to criminals is to not only hasten their cases but to refuse them bail till the final verdict is decided. During the pendency of the case after the charge sheet, parties should not be allowed to give tickets to candidates with criminal records.
WE cannot rely on the voter necessarily to reject candidates with criminal records! We have seen ourselves in Goa how candidates with criminal records like Mauvin Godinho, Dayanand Narvekar Churchill Alemao, Mickky Pacheco and others, keep getting re-elected again and again as they know how to look after their vote banks.