Mushrooming citizens’ groups could limit winning chances

The country’s first ever citizens consensus candidate Adolf D’Souza,who launched the ‘Mumbai 227’ platform merely two weeks ago,has now decided to quit the venture and float another platform of his own named Mumbai Nagriksatta.

D’Souza’s former aide from the Juhu Citizen’s Welfare Group Hansel D’Souza has also decided to field candidates from five wards under the JCWG banner. Apart from this,the Loksatta Party founded by Andhra Pradesh MLA JP Narayan is also planning to field its own candidates.

When asked why he quit the Mumbai 227 initiative,D’Souza said that he was not comfortable with the principles and ideologies of the core group members of the initiative.

“Transparency was lacking and moreover I prefer choosing candidates who are recommended by a larger section of the public and not just a small group of people,” he said.

However,it is common knowledge that for a citizen to win an election comprehensively,the margin of votes has to be at least 1,000 votes. D’Souza had won by a small margin of 600 in 2007 elections.

When asked how a candidate would manage to win if there are other apolitical candidates too,D’Souza said he did not have an option. “There is no understanding between groups to pre-decide on which wards should each of these initiatives target individually without the other three touching that ward. Ideally,this will not lead to division of votes since it is definite that none of the three platforms will be actually able to float 227 candidates across all wards,” he said.

Ruben Mascarenhas,member of the Mumbai Unit of the Loksatta Party,said,“Adolf’s campaign took a lot of effort and financial backing. To replicate the same in 227 wards without a proper backing is not going to be easy.”

The idea is being looked upon romantically rather than practically. At Loksatta,we have the backing of an established political party and our chances of winning are higher. But then again,with so many rival apolitical candidates,the regular corporators will benefit due to division of votes,” he added.