Second repoll in five booths : Reading between the fine lines
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: March 03, 2012 -

The ACs lined up for the repoll - Pix :: TSE

Now that Manipur is set to witness another round of repoll on March 4, certain things need to be set straight.

It is not only a question of the Election Commission of India announcing another repoll in 67 polling booths spread across 9 Assembly segments, but is also about how lumpen elements have been interfering in the electoral process in a State of the largest democracy in the world. To top this off, five polling booths, three in Tadubi Assembly Constituency in Senapati district and two in Chandel Assembly Constituency in Chandel district, will see a second round of repoll, which may be a record.

Five points emerge very clearly from the decision of the ECI. In the first place, it is clear that the ECI means business and in the process has rung out the signal that each and every Government agency can and should demonstrate that it will not take any nonsense lying down.

Secondly it is a clear testimony that there are elements out there who will go to any length to interfere in the very process of electing the people's representatives held under the Constitution of India, no matter the fact that these elements may have formally announced that they do not believe in the election held under the Constitution of the country.

An example that fits the term ‘paradox’ to the T. Thirdly, it is a damning testimony of how the election officials were reduced to the position of sitting ducks by powerful elements who dictated how the voting process should be conducted or else how does one explain the damning photographic evidences of a man voting against the name of a woman or vice versa.

Fifthly it is also a telling statement on the security measures taken up in connection with the election. What exactly is area domination ? What exactly is the purpose of moving huge man power (read armed personnel) from other States of the country for security deployment during the election here ?

The fact that the polling stations where repoll has been ordered fall only in the hill districts is also a damning statement on the peace process that is under way between the Government of India and various underground outfits, whose writ run large in these districts.

In many ways the repoll decision, particularly the second repoll in as many as five polling stations is reflective of how the bases and reaches of Government agencies have been eroded to such an extent by non-State actors. Such large scale manipulation of the electoral process could not have been the handiwork of some rag tag army of desperadoes.

Only well organised, well armed and well funded armed groups will be in the position to carry out poll malpractices on such a large scale, though we are not totally ruling out the use of private armies by some of the candidates.

If this is the extent to which some powerful elements can flex their muscles under the very nose of the ECI, then the overall situation under which the people have had to live for years can only be imagined. It is here that the Union Home Ministry has to answer certain questions, however uncomfortable they may be.

How sincerely and effectively has it been in enforcing the ground rules of all the truce pacts it has inked with different underground outfits operating in the hill districts of Manipur ?

Make no mistake about it, the death of six persons on January 28 in a polling station at Chandel Assembly Constituency is a reflection of how ineffective the cease fire ground rules have been. It is the same thing, more or less, in the case of poll malpractices that have been witnessed in the other polling stations.

How motivated are the security personnel in ensuring that the election passes off in a free and fair manner ?

It is against these uncomfortable questions that the office of the State Chief Electoral Officer has been dispensing its duties and taking these factors into consideration, it may not be altogether wrong to say that it has so far done a commendable job.

And this is saying a lot. Not easy given the situation here.