Rolling out Lok Sabha schedule : Choosing the right man
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: March 11 2019 -

The Lok Sabha poll schedule is out. To be held in seven phases, polling will start on April 11 and go on till May 19.

The two principal parties, that is the BJP and the Congress, have already started rolling up their sleeves ahead of the elections and it will be interesting to see how the election rolls by.

In Manipur too, the election will primarily be a fight between the BJP and the Congress with the NPF being another major player in the Outer Parliamentary Constituency.

The two parties are yet to announce the names of their candidates but already a number of wannabes have thrown their hat into the ring with some even launching their publicity drives.

Making things more interesting is the fact that former Chief Secretary O Nabakishore is among those seeking the Congress ticket.

The Left has already announced that Dr M Nara is their chosen man to contest the election and as noted earlier here in this column, the fortune of either the BJP and the Congress will depend to a large extent on the choice of candidate.

Will the BJP and the Congress go in for a fresh faced candidate, a candidate whose name is yet to be besmirched by all that comes along with being in active politics, or will they go in for the tried and tested ?

This is the question that either should seriously ponder on for choosing the right candidate will go a long way in deciding how the voters vote.

With information today being available at the press of a button, not much information can be hidden from the public and all will have an idea on the capability of the candidates the two parties decide to field.

And remember the candidates of the BJP and Congress will be up against veteran Dr M Nara.

The BJP has it to their advantage that they have come to the limelight with the fact that a man like Modi with no political surname to boast of can and did become the Prime Minister of the country after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

The question is, will the BJP look at family link in choosing its candidate or will it go purely on the basis of the perceived capabilities of the people waiting in line for the party’s ticket ?

This is an important question and one which gives the BJP the opportunity to demonstrate that it is a party which goes by the potential of the candidate and not family surname.

In just a month, that is on April 11 and April 18, Manipur will decide who is going to represent her in the Lok Sabha and the results will be known by May 23, that is when the vote count will be held.

Just two MPs but given how closely the upcoming election is going to be, each vote and by extension each MP will count.

This is where the observation that the coming elections will be more crucial to the BJP Government at Imphal than to the other political parties.

How Chief Minister N Biren plays his card will go a long way in deciding the behaviour of the voters.

And remember it is not only the BJP and the Congress which will be there but also other candidates and political parties and how they fare could have an impact on the poll fortunes of either party.

The countdown has started and it will be interesting to see how the two principal political parties respond to the situation.