Ensuring a fair election
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: December 16 2011 -

As the election to the 10th Manipur State Assembly which is tentatively slated sometime in February next year approaches, preparations are going ahead in full swing.

On the one hand, we have the various political parties and intending candidates generally warming up and looking all set to step on the accelerator, once the formal notification is issued and, on the other the hand, we have the Election Commission of India (ECI) which is responsible for conduct of this election, fine tuning its preparedness.

As a part of this exercise, the Chief Election Commissioner of India, S Y Quraishi along with Election Commissioners H S Brahma and V S Sampath on a two-day visit to the state held a series of meeting with government officials and political parties.

We believe the Election Commission must have gone in great detail with the concerned officials, particularly the DCs and SPs, the various steps needed to be taken up for the smooth conduct of the election.

As the election approaches, it is becoming more and more clear that the law enforcing agencies need to pull up their socks. The law and order situation in Manipur, particularly in the heart of Imphal city, is not heartening at the moment, this despite the fact that a number of security forces have been deployed all around the city.

Even as people of the state were recovering from the shock of the gruesome sight of the bomb blast at the Sangai Festival, another blast was triggered off two days back.

This time again, it happened right in the heart of the city and in one of the most fortified place - the PWD complex. The place is guarded by a section of the Central Reserve Police round the clock and the fact that someone managed to sneak in and planted a bomb inside the building points to a serious lapse.

Fortunately, there were no fatalities though three persons were injured. There is definitely a need for serious review of the nature of security measures in place, considering the fact that it has been breached time and again.

These blasts have taken place in some of the areas considered secure; this itself should be matter of serious concern for those responsible for providing a secure and safe general atmosphere.

For the polling itself, the ECI announced its decision to deploy adequate central forces and even to install cameras in polling booths to check fraudulent voting, this will go a long way in ensuring free and fair voting as also check fraudulent voting.

The suggestion put up by some political parties for holding election at one go, also need to be given proper consideration as this would reduce proxy voting to a large extend.

But as the election date nears and the campaign heats up, candidates would start unleashing their money and muscle power, which has the potential to distort the mandate of the people.

How to keep a check on these, will be a big challenge. Even though the ECI has announced its intent to closely monitor the election expenditure of the candidates, it is easier said than done.

There are many hidden expenditure in any election campaign which finds no reflection in the books. Related to this, is the menace of paid news in print as well as electronic media wherein propaganda of a particular candidate appears in the guise of news, which might influence the voters unduly.

But with a proper mechanism in place to monitor news content during the run up to the election accompanied by appropriate punitive action against the erring media houses and journalists, controlling this menace should not be much of a problem. With some time to go before the D-day, we will have to wait and see how the proposed measures translate into action.