SECURE: Though elaborate steps are taken to guard the EVM machines in strong rooms with the seals of the various contesting parties, there are still concerns that they can be manipulated.

BY RAJAN NARAYAN

AND a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday following the week when one of the senior Congress leaders admitted that some of the candidates in the fake video had met some representatives of Hindi TV news channel “Khabar.” For a Saturday following the week when there was concern over the EVMs being hacked during their 24 days of custody before opened on March 10, 2022. For a Saturday following the week when the Organization of Islamic Corporations raised objections to the harassment of Muslims in India. For a Saturday following the week when the Taj Group of Companies has come forward to sponsor this year’s return to an old-fashioned traditional Carnaval with a foodie focus on Goan cuisines.

MEETING DISTORTED
AND a few stray thoughts on one of the senior Congress leaders admitting that some of the candidates in the by now famous fake video had met some representatives of the “Khabar” Hindi news channel. There cannot be smoke without fire. Even admitting that the video allegedly depicted three Congress and one TMC MLAs, talking about defecting to the BJP if they won the elections, could not have been created out of thin air. The mischief makers whether they were the BJP or the AAP needed footage of the concerned MLAs to morph or deep fake the video showing them willing to accept large bribes for defecting to the BJP if they won the elections.
Apparently the modus operandi was one or more of the MLAs being approached by some agency offering to sponsor some event not connected with the elections. It could have been the help of the MLA for conversion of agricultural land to settlement or regularization of violation of CRZ rules. One of the accused Congress MLAs apparently did meet representatives of some news agency and agreed to help. This footage gathered were then deep faked by either agents of the BJP or AAP to discredit the Congress and TMC candidates ahead of polling day. Fortunately for the Congress candidates Avertano Furtado, Sankalp Amonkar and Savio D’Silva and Churchill Alemao (TMC) the conversation was distorted to deep fake into a video claiming that were thinking of switching over to the BJP if the price was right if the won in the February 14, 2022 polling.
Both the Congress and the BJP are still nervous about the possibility of defections post-elections. The Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president and poll in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao are keeping a close watch on the 40 candidates who contested on the Congress ticket. On Tuesday, February 15 all 40 candidates who contested on the Congress ticket were directed to join the office bearers for lunch at Fortune Miramar in Panaji. The impression I got was that they had been at the hotel the full day. It is not known if the 40 candidates were more or less “imprisoned” in the hotel till results are out.
If they are not detained at the Fortune for the entire period till the day of the results, it has most likely that they will even be moved out of Goa to a resort on counting day. There have been occasions in the past when on the eve of a vote of confidence in the assembly, the BJP sent away all its MLAs to a resort in Jaipur in Rajasthan which was then ruled by the BJP. The irony was that Digambar Kamat, then senior member of the BJP, was supposed to guard the BJP MLAs from straying. Much to the shock of the late Manohar Parrikar way back in 2007, Digambar Kamat, the shepherd himself, disserted the BJP and jumped over to the Congress. Though Digambar had returned to Goa from Jaipur leaving the other BJP MLAs behind, Parrikar never suspected that he would jump fence.
Parrikar came to know about it a couple of hours before Digambar was to go to the Ramada Hotel to meet the Congress High Command Observer Margret Alva waiting for him. Some of us who knew what was happening because we were at the bungalow of the MPT chairman Aravind Bhatikar. Parrikar met Digambar Kamat late in the evening but failed to persuade him to change his mind.
Shortly after Parrikar left Digambar’s residence, the latter went along with several friends to the Ramada and joined the Congress. The Congress on its part fulfilled the expectation of Digambar Kamat and made him the chief minister of Goa when the Congress got a majority in the 2007 election.
THERE have been so many candidates and so many parties involved in the 2022 Valentine’s Day polling that there is a never before confusion with none wiser about who may finally form the next government. As against the normal one to one contest with only two candidates, in some constituencies there were eight candidates. In Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s constituency Sanquelim there were 13 candidates. Many of them perhaps not so serious contenders for the throne of power. But parties like the AAP and the TMC-MGP and NCP-Shiv Sena may win enough seats to play at being kingmakers. For the record both the Congress and the BJP are expecting to get a clear majority.

EVM MACHINE INSECURITIES
AND a few stray thoughts on how there is concern over EVMs being hacked during the 24 days that they are being kept in custody before being opened on March 10, 2022. Though the polling for the 40 seats ended by the end of the day on February 14, the 301 candidates representing a dozen odd parties will have to wait till March 10, 2022 for the results to be declared.
In the meantime there are very palpable fears that the electronic voting machines may be hacked or votes tampered with. It is known that senior computer engineers who specialize in ethical hacking have demonstrated that it is possible to rig EVMs. We know EVMs can be manipulated to transfer votes of all or some Congress candidates to the BJP.
For instance in Panaji, BJP software experts who may have been trained by Prashant Kishor of I-PAC, could rig the EVMs so that all votes cast for Utpal Parrikar turn up as votes for Babush Monserrate. We must remember that EVMs are electronic machines. The officials in charge of the various polling centers are government employees. The majority of them are government school teachers. So much so the party in power may be able to pressurize or induce them to do some learned tampering of votes in the EMS boxes.
After all, it is the official in charge of the polling booth, who activates the EVMs for voting to commence. After each voter is done the machine is re-checked or the next voter entering the election room. It was to address fears of manipulation that the paper trail showing whom you have voted for was added to the EVM machines. But the paper trail is part of the machine hidden behind glass and falls into box below the machine. Many voters demand that every voter should be get a printed receipt noting the details of their vote.
In our age of deep fake technology any electronic gadget may be manipulated. So we think there could be some substance to the charge of EVMs being vulnerable to manipulation – as they are manufactured by a public sector company, namely Bharat Electronic Limited. It is even possible that a
“setting” as Goans call it, could be done at the manufacturing stage itself.
Which is why in many of the states in America, manual voting is still the norm. In manual voting you fill the name of the candidates in a slip of paper you have given and put it in the concerned boxes. However, it must be conceded that so far no case of EVM fraud has been proved in a court of law.

MUSLIM HARASSMENT
AND a few stray thoughts on the Organization of Islamic Corporations raising objections to the harassment of Muslims in India. The hijab-protests in Karnataka have gone viral. They have spread not only to different parts of Karnataka but even to education institutions outside the state.
Across Karnataka on Tuesday, February 15 13 young Muslim women students boycotted the SSLC preparatory exam because they were not allowed to enter classroom wearing their hijab. Barring seven colleges in Udupi and Kundapur, most private and government pre-university colleges were not affected by the hijab versus saffron controversy in the coastal areas of the state.
The area adjacent to Goa from Karwar to Mengaluru has always been the strong hold of Hindutuva fanatics like the Bajrang Dal and the Ram Sena of Pramod Mutalik. It may be recalled that the late Manohar Parrikar refused to permit Pramod Mutalik to start a branch of the Ram Sena in Goa. The strong belief is that the hijab issue is being deliberately created by communal organizations to polarize voters ahead of elections in Karnataka.
It all started with a small groups of school girls insisting on wearing the hijab to college even where a uniform was mandatory for all students. In reaction Hindu students started wearing saffron scarves! From being a simple issue of freedom to wear what you wish the matter turned into a communal issue. Cases are pending in the High Court in Karnataka and even the Supreme Court.
The argument of those who insist on wearing the hijab is that the Constitution guarantees freedom to practice religion of choice. Which would imply that students may wear any attire if a specific uniform has not been prescribed by the educational institution. But now the hijab versus saffron politics war is being witnessed only in pre-university colleges, equivalent of our 12th standard.
The hijab movement suddenly started when 13 girls belonging to a fundamental Muslim organization insisted on the right to wear hijab to college. This provoked a counter reaction from Hindutva fanatic organisation with girls belonging to the Hindu communities starting to wear saffron scarfs. The situation is complicated by the fact that the University rules themselves specify that students do not have to wear any particular uniform. In any case even in Karnataka there is no uniformity of attire at the degree level.
While the Indian Constitution undoubtedly guarantees freedom of worship, it does not mean education institutions cannot direct students to wear attire which does not represent religious affiliation or any particular religious symbols. Even in Goa at 12th standard level all institutions including Dempe college do not allow Muslim students to wear hijab in high secondary schools.
The Constitution may guarantee freedom of worship but it also states that India is a secular democratic republic. Religion is something personal and should be limited to the homes of those who practice any religion whether it is Christianity or Islam. In most democratic countries and particularly in France, not only in education institutions but even in offices, wearing clothes to reveal to which religion you belong too is banned. In India currently the High Court in an interim order has made it clear that in government and private colleges neither hijab or saffron scarves may be worn.
The saddest part in all this is that many places in Karnataka parents have started joining their children in protesting outside PUC colleges which do not permit Muslim students to enter if they’re garbed in hijab. Alarmingly, the issue is getting internationalized. The Organization of Islamic Co-operation headed by countries like Saudi Arabia and Iraq have objected to the ban on hijab in PUC colleges in Karnataka. That the agitation is being promoted by communal elements both in the Hindu and Muslim communities is evident from the fact that it has spread to Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh where polling is going on.
The authorities of a government college in Madhya Pradesh have issued a public notice restraining students from wearing any religious attire like the hijab. Common sense dictates that adults have a right to wear whatever they wish in public as long as there is no dissent. Like hot pants and strategically torn jeans which several domestic tourists like to wear at Goan beaches.

TRADITIONAL CARNAVAL
AND a last stray thought on the Taj Group of Hotels coming forward to sponsor this year’s return to the carnival of old in Goa. The Carnaval, perhaps because the government is virtually suspended till the election results are announced, is being organized in collaboration with the Corporation of the City of Panjim. I recall that when I first came to Goa in 1983 I was fascinated by the carnival or “carnaval” and the spirit in which it was celebrated.
Goa’s carnival is special even if it draws inspiration from Latin American carnivals celebrated in Portugal and the erstwhile Portuguese colonies. The logic behind the carnival is enjoy a small period of hedonistic pleasures before the beginning of the austere Lent season, which is akin to a Christian Ramzan perhaps. The observation of Lent then leads on to Good Friday when Christ was crucified on Mt Calvary.
In Goa because of its large Christian presence, by 1983, the carnival became a major marketing event in which Gajanand Shirodkar took a lead in sponsoring the King Momo float, there was a floats parade and other carnival features to beguile and charm locals and tourists alike. The carnival parade lured tourists from far and near.
The general belief is that for the four days of carnival starting on Saturday and ending on Tuesday, King Momo rules and government offices are closed – so that all may enjoy the revelry without fear or favor. Goan carnivals have always been carefree, happy events in which everyone participates in some way or another.