A Brief Report on the recent Elections held in Manipur 2012
- Part 1 -

Shyleyn Chothe *

People going to the poll on Election Day in Imphal on January 28 2012 :: Pix - Bullu Raj

The recent election to the 10th Manipur Legislative Assembly was more interesting because of the introduction of new electioneering procedures. According to the laws enacted by the Election Commission of India (ECI), photo profiling of electors on the day of polling is mandatory (The Sangai Express, 25 December 2011).

Though election laws demand the use of digital cameras while taking photos of the electors on the poll day, the Chief Electoral Officer of Manipur, without any explanation, issued mobile phones of low quality to the polling officials for taking the photos of the electors on the poll day.

Strict conditions were laid to the polling officials that, the 'image numbers' of the photos should tally with the numbers of votes polled according to the Electronic Voting Machines and also to the numbers of specimen collected in the Register of Voters (Form 17A).The polling officials were also warned that, the mobile phones were embedded with software that any attempt to manipulate the phones would be impossible and detected by the election officials staffing the virtual destination of the Election Office.

Then, there is another mandatory rule called SMS based poll-monitoring system. Under this system, the polling officials send to the election office, on every 2nd hour from the time the polling commences to the time of its closure, the number of male and female electors who voted on the poll day. That is from 7'00 am, 9'00 am, 11'00 am, 1'00 pm, 3'00 pm, and even up to 5'00 pm if there are electors who are yet to poll their votes.

In this system, the virtual destination numbers were given to the polling officials on the poll day and not before that. Details and examples along with the 'syntax' for using the system were also supplied to the polling officials. SMSes were sent to the Election Office from the time the polling officials left for their designated polling stations, reach the polling stations, when the'mock poll' and 'checking of EVMs' were conducted, during the polling, left the polling stations, and reach the 'Control Room' of the District Election Office. An abstract from the original official copy of the State Election Office is given below.

Event	SMS syntax	example
On departing to Polling station	pollSO101001PO856 [Hints: SO1-State Code,01-District Code,001-A/C Code,001-Polling station, PO-Presiding Officer,856-This code will be provided by District level]	poll S14 09055 001 PO 856
Immediately on reaching the polling station	pollSAP [Hints: SAP- Polling party safely arrived at polling station]	poll SAP
Mock Poll Conducted	pollMP04 [Hints: MP-Mock Poll, 04-Last two digits stand for no. of polling agents of each contesting candidates present.]	poll MP 04
Report two hourly (9 AM)	poll9AM111,98,02 [Hints: 9AM-time, 111-no. of male voters up to that time, 98-no. of female voters up to that time, 02- no. of other voters]	poll AM 111,98,02
Poll interrupted due to EVM malfunction	pollPROBEVM [Hints: PROB-Problem, EVM-Problem of Electronic Voting Machine]	poll PROB EVM
Poll interrupted or apprehended to be interrupted due to Law & Order Problem	pollPROBLW [Hints: PROB-Problem, LW-Law & Order Problem]	poll PROB LW
After the end of Poll & finalization of ballot paper Account in Form 17C & just before leaving the polling station	pollVT454,381,002 [Hints: VT- Stands for Final Voters turnout, 454-example for no. of male voters, 381-example for no. of female voters, 002- example of no. of other voters]	poll VT 454,381,002
After reaching the Record Room of the District Election Office	pollSARC [Hints: SARC stands for Safe Arrival of Polling Party at RC, RC- Record Room]	poll SARC

NB:(i) Other Voters mean electors whose identities were challenged on the poll day and electors whose votes were found to have been polled by others.

The State Election Office, based on the records sent through the SMSes and the records maintained in Presiding Officers' Diaries, released an official table listing the Final Voters' Turnout, tally of male and female voters, and no. of actual electors for all the 60 (sixty) Assembly Constituencies of Manipur (Final Voters turnout…Poknapham, 7th Feb. 2012; Page-6). However, the tallies of male and female electors who polled their votes on the poll days in the Assembly Constituencies of 41-Chandel and 42-Tengnoupal were not included, giving strength to the various reports of the militants capturing polling booths even in the presence of security personnel.

Like never before, the senior officials of the State Election Office, including the CEO and his deputies trumpeted all the election laws through the local electronic and print media. There were 'General Observers' and 'Expenditure Observers' assisted by select officials for every Assembly Constituency deputed to scrutinize the election proceedings. Email ids, Facsimile numbers, phone numbers and addresses of the Election Officials were highlighted to the public through the media while also soliciting complaints and suggestion from anyone that matters.

Albeit the introduction of new strict laws, the photo-comparison exercises undertaken after the elections exposed evidences, of impersonation and booth-rigging in such a magnitude that the Election Commission was caught between the decisionsof conducting re-polls and excluding the proxy votes when counting of votes commences. In one way, the new election systems became the proverbial 'Androcle's Sword' to the Election Officials themselves.

In Manipur, nay India, proxy voting is a must-do tradition. Any candidate found wanting in the practice of impersonation and greasing the palms of electors are frowned upon; ridiculed and avoided.Since the tryst with democracy, Indians have lived with the belief that to cast vote on behalf of their near and dear ones, particularly of those settling far away is a birthright. On the other hand, electors having their names entered in the electoral rolls of different polling stations and Assembly Constituencies are the most sought-after personalities during elections. These issues affected the auction of electors during elections. There are even 'professional impersonators' waiting to earn a few more rupees in this season.

On the other hand, the hill areas of Manipur are considered as safe havens for militants. Since the Government agreed for a 'unilateral ceasefire' with the factions of the Naga rebel group (NSCN-K, NSCN-IM, etc.), and since there is a 'Suspension of Operations (SoO)' between the Kuki militant groups (UKLF, KNF, ZRA etc.) and the State Government, the hills of Manipur are virtually under the grip of these militants; without any kind of objections.

The nexus between the militants and politicians, wannabe public leaders, self-styled social workers and even the security personnel is an open secret. In every issue, the consent of these militants is necessary. In addition, elections are held under their supervision. As such, the legislators elected from the hill Assembly Constituencies are actually the 'representatives' of these militant groups.

The violence that claimed innocent lives on the poll day, 28th January in the polling stations of Tampi, Modi in 41-Chandel A/C (The Sangai Express, 29th Jan. 2012) and 30 others in the hill Assembly Constituencies was perpetrated by the militants;the CEO of Manipur had also admitted (The Sangai Express, 1st Feb. 2012). The saddest part is that, in spite of acknowledging the involvement of militants in the elections, no official steps were initiated to arrest or detained these militant leaders during the re-polls that ensued.

Funnily, on the evening of 28 January, the CEO had rated the elections as 'PEACEFUL & SUCCESSFUL; but only to be proven wrong by the reports of election violence and evidences of impersonation detected in the following days.

Previously, the CEO of Manipur had announced that cadres of Kuki militant groups would be allowed to vote in the polling booths prepared in their 'designated camps'. However, the CEO did not clarify upon the absence of the militants in their camps on their designated camps.

The involvement of the militants(NSCN-IM) in the recent electionswas revealed by the Union Home Minister, P. Chidambaram and was highlighted in the media (The Sangai Express, 2 Feb. 2012). The Intelligence Bureau of the Govt. of India had warned of the involvement of NSCN-IM in the elections (The Sangai Express, 4 Feb. 2012).

Later, the Director-General of Assam Rifles, Rameshwar Roy (now transferred) went on to claim that the NSCN-IM was involved in the elections (the NSCN is always involved in elections). The DG even bragged that members of the NSCN-IM would be forced to abide by the 'ceasefire ground rules' (The Sangai Express, 7th Feb. 2012). However, he lied.

After trumpeting so much about the election Model Code of Conduct (MCC), the Election Commission, for that matter, the State Election Office did not take up any measures to confine the militants in their respective'designated' camps! The militants of both the NSCN-IM and the UKLF were given unlimited powers to canvass votes in favour of their respective candidates.

So many press reports exposed the militants, especially those belonging to the NSCN-IM and the UKLF.NSCN-IM tortured the electors of Karong A/C, Senapati Distict (The Sangai Express, 1 Feb. 2012). The NSCN-IM kidnapped and tortured the workers and supporters of the Independent Candidate in 41-Chandel A/C. The victims had a providential escape (The Sangai Express, 30 Jan. 2012). The NSCN-IM's cadres captured the polling booths and manipulated the electioneering procedures in favour of their chosen candidate in Karong A/C of Senapati district (The Sangai Express, 30 Jan. 2012). NSCN-IM shot at INC's worker at Chingai A/C in Ukhrul District (The Sangai Express, 30 Jan. 2012).

On the other hand, the Kuki militant groups, particularly the UKLF openly functioned in favour of its candidate and against other Kuki contesting candidates in 41-Chandel A/C.

To be continued ....

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* Shyleyn Chothe is a regular contributor to e-pao.net
The writer can be reached at shyleyn(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)in
This article was posted on March 22, 2012.

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