Taking democracy to the local bodies : Power decentralisation
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: January 18 2016 -
A total of 11 out of 18 and 8 is not a bad score. It is more than good.
This is the scoreline of the Congress in the 18 Municipal Councils and 8 Nagar Panchayats which went to poll on January 11.
Read this along the line of candidates winning the local body elections and it reads as 176 Congress candidates elected, 94 BJP candidates romping home, 164 Independent candidates receiving the approval of the voters and 2 candidates from the CPI winning.
The tally is hazy as there is an overlap of the Municipal Councils and the Nagar Panchayats but what is clear is that the Congress in Manipur still seems to be on a rather comfortable position.
Noteworthy too to note that it is the Independent candidates who have done remarkably well with 164 candidates romping home.
Here again there still remains the question of whether these candidates won the election on their own merit or whether they are deemed to be close to the powers that be, read the ruling Congress.
It is along this line why some have observed that the good showing put up by Independent candidates in Thoubal district (the home turf of Chief Minister O Ibobi) should be read as some sort of a strategy to strengthen the hands of the Chief Minister.
The BJP too has not disappointed as 94 of its candidates have been declared victorious. That two CPI candidates made it home is noteworthy but this should tell a story of its own.
Grassroot politics, devolving power to the grassroot level, power decentralisation etc are all at the core of holding local body elections but how effectively has power been devolved to the grassroot level is a question worth raising.
Does this mean that important decisions which affect the day to day lives of the common people can be addressed by those elected to the Municipal Councils and the Nagar Panchayats ?
Moreover it is also important to question how far the elected members of the local bodies need to go to be in the good books of those who are believed to come higher up the pecking order ?
It is important to note too that many of the candidates who contested the local body elections felt the need to cosy up to the local MLAs or some other powers that be.
A situation which was similar to the election held to the Autonomous District Councils earlier in 2015.
Elections to the Imphal Municipal Council are expected to be held sometime later this year and the interesting question is whether there will be a change in the voting pattern or not.
How about the candidates ? Interesting questions but for which there are no definite answers as yet.
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