Realising the onus of the voters : The three profound pledges
- Sangai Express Editorial :: March 26, 2014 -

We pledge. We pledge to cast our votes in Lok Sabha Election, 2014.

We pledge free and fair poll during Lok Sabha election, 2014.

We pledge to cast our vote on the basis of ethical and informed decision.

These are the three slogans which The Sangai Express carried on three consecutive days, on March 22, 23 and 24 and this is in tandem with the efforts taken up by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer to give a cutting edge definition to the understanding of voters’ participation in the upcoming Parliamentary election.

The common theme that runs through the three slogans is the responsibility of the people in the largest democracy in the world while electing their representatives and this brings to mind the thought provoking but which nowadays has become some sort of a cliche’ ‘The people get the type of Government they deserve.’

Vote, make the election free and fair and vote on the basis of ethical and informed decision and it should be more than clear that the onus of making the election meaningful lies not only with the candidates and the political parties but also with the people who will have the final say.

It is also some sort of an admission that all elections, which the country has witnessed since gaining independence, have not always lived up to the true spirit of democracy, where people choose their representatives in a free and fair manner and this situation or description fits Manipur to the T.

This is why The Sangai Express has repeatedly said that participating in the election process is not only about coming out to cast one’s vote but also about engaging in debates and discussions on the personal integrity, the sincerity and efficiency of the candidates as well as the ideology of the political organisations to which they belong to.

In most cases, election manifestoes are hardly discussed at any fora, much less pick up a lesson or two from the past.

It has always been about money and more money and of course muscle power, especially in the hinterland, where thugs roam about freely to impose their diktats on the voters.

In a few days time, the people of Manipur will go to polls, on April 9 in the Outer Parliamentary Constituency and on April 17 in the Inner Parliamentary Constituency.

How far the meaning of the slogans which were carried in The Sangai Express for three consecutive days will go down with the voters is something which only time will tell.

However the nagging doubt that it would be lost somewhere down the line refuses to go away and this is a cause for worry, a worry which has been a reality and which has transformed itself into the rot that one sees all around, all these years, nay decades.

No wonder Manipur has seen numerous political leaders and politicians but no statesman in its truest sense of the term ever since it attained Statehood in 1972.

More like a case of the voters not realising their responsibilities as citizens of the largest democracy in the world.

For decades it is not public issues which have dictated how the voters choose their representatives, but is more a case of personal equations.

Situation has come to such a pass that the performance of an elected member is judged not by how much he or she has done for the constituency but according to how successful he or she has been in cultivating a vote bank on the basis of granting contract and supply works.

Digging a community pond or constructing a community hall from the local area development fund, whether one is an MP or an MLA, has never been the chart of performance.

Rather it has been about grooming a set of people through granting lucrative contract works, getting someone a plum Government job, transferring someone to a place of one’s choice etc.

These are the parameters in which the performances of the elected members have been judged for years.

In such a scenario it is only right that in as much as the elected representatives may be held accountable for the all round decay, to a large extent too, it is the mindset and mental make up of the people which is responsible for the sorry state of affairs that one sees all around today.