THIS IS A LET DOWN! by Floriano Lobo, Goa Suraj Party

This recipe from Anand is when the people of Panchayat areas and Municipal wards remain soundly asleep when it is time to elect their representatives.  Being watch-dogs is very very necessary. This job becomes simple when your representative have been elected on a programme that s/he should follow, the pro-people's programme.

But the theory that Anand propounds is a defeatist theory that : Let anyone and everyone come into the election ring. Let them get themselves elected. And only then we shall hold on to what they have promised. Yes. They will promise the heavens when this independent breed wants to get elected. They will spend lacs/crores to get themselves elected. When they do, they will follow their own agenda and prople like Anand will want everyone to fight them then. A pure waste of precious time and energy.

My recipe is: Get pro-active before elections. Form citizen's panels for Panchayat and Municipal elections, not at the election times, but NOW. Let those who want to do something for their wards/villages/municipalities come forward on a selfless agenda prepared by the village/municipal citizens.Shortlist and then collectively choose the respective candidates and hold them to the collective manifesto. Then campaign for the panel collectively as Village/Municipality. Get the panel elected by working hard for the positive results by making sure that a required basic minimum votes go for the panel ( a common symbol for all panel members) in each and every booth. If this is done, then the victory is assured.

THEN SIT BACK AND WATCH YOUR PANEL WORK FOR YOUR VILLAGE/CITY. There are chances that you as a citizen will not have to waste your bread-earning time to check on the representative because they will be expected to bind themselves to the given agenda/governance. Very seldom they will not. In that case they can be taken to task because the village/municipal world of citizens have elected them and not vice versa.

As simple as that.