Sandesh Prabhudesai
3 June 1999
Silence is the key word as Goa is all set for India’s first
state-wide "electronic polling" tomorrow.
The polling stations would be actually silent. No rustle of the ballot
papers or the thumping of voting stamps. You enter the booth, check your number and go and
press the button before the symbol you desire to vote for. The feather touch would decide
who would ultimately rule.
The story of silence does not end here. It is also the silent voter who
would ultimately "speak out" electronically what kind of government Goans
deserve. Though politicians used all sorts of propaganda methods for the fortnight,
opinion of this silent voter would finally matter.
"If it does not rain, even those who normally do not vote may turn
up at the polling station, merely out of curiosity for the electronic voting
machine", feels Kewal Sharma, the chief electoral officer. In that case, the
increased polling percentage would make all the predictions upside down.
The police machinery is also relieved a bit because the possibility of
booth capturing is remote. The voting unit does not function unless the polling officer
presses the control unit for the next vote. "The criminals need to go hi tech for
that", quips DGP R S Sahay in a lighter vein.
The law and order machinery is however fully prepared to face any
eventuality, with the army of 3000 personnel, including 15 companies of para-military
forces. Dividing 40 constituencies into 11 zones, they have already started rounding up
the suspected troublemakers with a criminal background.
Constituencies represented by former ministers like Churchill Alemao
from Benaulim, Somnath Zuwarkar from Taleigao (part of Panaji city) and Victoria Fernandes
of St Cruz are being identified hyper-sensitive, besides locating several booths in 20
other segments as sensitive.
"With Congress appearing desperate and the forces of the MGP and
the BJP - former alliance partners - being divided, we are leaving no stone unturned as it
is a different kind of battlefield this time", admits Sahay.
To co-ordinate electioneering at 1111 polling stations in 39
constituencies (except Loutolim which Congress won unopposed), the election office has
also pressed services of all kind of modern equipment like cellular phones, wireless sets,
fax machines and even additional phones, besides well-equipped mobile vehicles for the
observers.
Sector area officers would also be armed with spare electronic voting
machines, in case of any failure while machine repairing machinery is also being kept
ready for emergency purpose. Goa is the first state which is using EVMs for the whole
electioneering purpose.
Besides live demonstrations and educating the voter about use of the
EVMs through pamphlets and newspaper advertisements, the election office has also
effectively countered the misinformation being spread by some politicians regarding the
modern technique.
Reacting to the newspaper reports that former chief minister Luizinho
Faleiro is warning people that the EVM would tell him who had voted for whom, the election
office has been continuously countering such false propaganda.
Dr Kashinath Jalmi, former opposition leader, is perhaps the only
politician who has utilised the EVM to effectively win over the voters. Preparing a
replica of the EVM which beeps and lights, he has reached semi-educated OBC voters in his
constituency to teach them how to use the machine.
Advertisements by several candidates appearing in the newspapers now
appeal to the voter not to vote but to "press the button" before the respective
symbol. The BJP has in fact prepared an advertisement, which would hit the front pages
tomorrow, appealing them to ‘hit the right button’, showing the party symbol on
the EVM.
It appears to be a neck-to-neck battle between the Congress, the BJP
and the MGP, besides two more regional outfits - the United Goans Democratic Party and the
Goa Rajiv Congress. The rebel Congressmen, contesting as independents, have also changed
the picture in several constituencies.
Whether it is union home minister L K Advani or the AICC secretary
Ramesh Chennithala, they claim to gain absolute majority. But the local party leaders
admit in private that they are fully prepared to face the hung Assembly and form their
government, without engineering defections.
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