Glimpses of Valentine’s Day Goa Assembly Elections 2022… Voter Kesarbai from Aivio village was happy to pose with her right hand glove for voting! Mercifully there were separate queues for men and women. Some of the voting stations had an eco-friendly green theme like this one at the government school at Dona Paula.

By Tara Narayan

— I vote, I want a receipt, please.
A personal chatty memoir of Goa’s first Valentine’s Day assembly voters’ day…

TIME after time like lambs we vote patiently, with dedication and what do we get? Not even a receipt in exchange for a vote! It seems only the EVM machine registers the receipt for counting purposes. So why can’t these same EVM machines also provide a perfectly good duplicate copy of the receipt for voters to take home by way of testimony of whom they voted for, where and at what time? Say a receipt to file away for future reference, to be produced if any kind of dispute emerges later?
At the Dona Paula government school where I went to cast my vote on Valentine’s Day, February 4, 2022 the supervising officer smiled at my query about a receipt and said, “You may put in your suggestion at the Election Office later on, this time it is too late!” I had to be content with the inky dot on my left hand forefinger before I cast my vote and left. The inky dot was itching so at home I tried washing it out with some washing vessels detergent tablet in my kitchen…and what do you know? Much of the ink on my forefinger washed off beautifully!
BUT to begin at the beginning Monday, February 14, 2022 dawned beautifully sunny and on my way to the early morning pavement Panaji market at 8am, the usual various voting booths were already set up to field any early morning voters queries from voters — most of the ruling party booths were handsomely decked out in satin white and red square open air tents…a clutter of table and chairs, water bottles, relevant voter’ lists…laid out where volunteers sat to check out details for enquiring voters. There were mostly women volunteers at the various party booths if that says anything!
At the government school at Dona Paula where I had to go to cast my vote for Taleigao everything was spick and span. Perfectly organized with all useful facilities in place including a ramp for easy access, a wheelchair for those who asked for it. A volunteer offered me a thin transparent plastic glove to put on my right hand – covid protocol, she smiled. I must press the voter’s button with my right hand finger only! So that if I am a carrier of the corona virus variants I may not infect anyone handling the EVM voting machines later on. Before voting my naked left hand forefinger nail will be inked and I may discard the right hand glove in the medical bin provided for at the centre afterwards.

SEPARATE QUEUES
THERE were separate lines for men and women voters but no line for senior citizens. But many seniors in wheelchair or who came in with the help of a family member were upgraded almost immediately to enter the voting room and complete their voting. It was all quiet decorum and quiet here with half-a-dozen persons guiding voters. This time around I noticed the pictures were there alongside the party symbols so one could make no mistake about who one is voting for! I was determined to vote for a women and I voted for the younger of the two candidates (for I thought the older woman was rich enough to retire happily ever after from politics!).
I voted for a woman for I think women are underrepresented in the politics of this country which is becoming more and more manipulative and illegitimate. In mean the present government in the small state of Goa came to power not because it got the people’s mandate but by being sneakily bribing 11 Congressmen to defect for money – and so we got a BJP government hell bent on a Hindutva India, never mind that India is already a de facto Hindu India at ground level – Constitution of India regardless. Goans will always remember what happened in 2017 courtesy the late chief minister Manohar Parrikar. To grab power by hook or by crook is okay in the eyes of an illegitimate government although some Goans don’t think so! It’s like all is fair in love and war. Is it?
This time I dare say because of the fierce battles for votes by Aam Aadmi and Trinamool Congress parties, considered as “outsiders” parties from Delhi and West Bengal, respectively, by most conservative Goans, there was a flood of promises, guarantees, counter promises, counter guarantees along with the cash doles and bank loans at low interest and lower down the ladder of Goa’s vote bank politics where biryani-booze, bicycles-motor bikes are paid for in instalments, plus your roof repaired if you wish…there was some confusion and cacophony for the educated classes who get swayed by all the arguments of who is a better or worse candidate and whether old is gold or new is platinum.

Most candidates did easy home-to-home visits appealing for votes but many skipped the flats in buildings where a flight of steps had to be climbed! Their young karyakarta went up the staircases dropping their master’s manifesto with requests for “please vote for Aam Aadmi okay!” The AAP workers were very energetic, I noticed, as were the Congress workers. Traditionally, I have always hung out with the Congress for being a far more secular party. Congress is best for at least one hopes it won’t help in the balkanisation of India along religious and communal lines, as for corruption we have seen the BJP is no better and in fact excels in promoting a budget perennially in deficit. Infrastructure in Goa has improved courtesy mega highways, airports, ports, bridges but not at ground level for the common people who still deal with shoddy patched up streets, gutters and pavements in a mess – shortages of water and blackouts of power.
Not to mention runaway inflation where one is paying Rs5 for a humble tomato! Household expenditure is skyrocketing and many are trying to cut down on expenses as a bleak future stares them in the face, apart from the Covid-19 scares. Whoever forms the next government will have to come to terms with new realities of a people driven to the wall and reduced to begging for jobs, primary infrastructure, decent healthcare at minimal cost (see how the cost of medicines is soaring along with the price of masks and sanitation products)….
The first ever Valentine’s Day assembly voting day in Goa is over and we await the results which come on March 10, 2022. Hey Ram, Inshallah, sweet Jesus, may the results be as sweet as the sweetness of freedom to speak, wear what you want to wear, eat what you want to eat and drink what you want to drink….and pray to whomsoever you wish. Life is a garden of a myriad flowers and not just a stagnating pond of lilies and lotuses dying to breathe and bloom! I think most everybody was voting for a change in government this time around. A change for the better and not a change for more of the same bitter medicine of poverty for the many — but gross ill-gotten riches for the few rooted in corruption and crime in high places of government and the world of business.