11 in line for Congress ticket : Picking the right candidate
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: January 23 2019 -

The Congress seems to have started its ground work ahead of the coming Lok Sabha elections and it is in line with this that it has set 5 pm of January 31 as the last hour for submitting nomination papers.

With the oldest political party setting down the time frame for availing the nomination papers and submitting the same, 11 intending candidates have so far joined the hunt for the party’s ticket-six in the Inner Parliamentary Constituency and five in the Outer.

As noted here in earlier comments, it will be a fight between the Congress and the BJP in the Inner Parliamentary seat while in the Outer there is the NPF to contend with besides the two principal political parties.

Early days yet, but the MPCC (I) must have started working overtime to study the credentials and the winnability factor of the intending candidates with the same to be proposed to the AICC.

This is where the political acumen and the ability to read the pulse of the people and accordingly choose the candidate of the top leaders of the MPCC (I) and the AICC (I) will be put to test.

Among those seeking the party’s ticket are old war horses, people who have already been tested and there are some fresh faces, whose capabilities are yet to be tested and known.

How the oldest political party goes about choosing its candidate remains to be seen, but to be sure the backroom boys of the BJP must have already started politically profiling the intending candidates to draw their strength and weaknesses.

The 11 may not be final and more may join the list of intending candidates and it will be interesting to see which candidates the Congress zeroes in for the Lok Sabha polls.

It is not yet official, but there must also be a number of intending candidates seeking the ticket of the BJP. Once the names of the intending candidates come out, things can only get more interesting.

Just as the backroom boys of the BJP must be profiling the intending candidates of the Congress, the oldest political party will also do the same with the list from the BJP.

This is where the process of electoral politics may be said to start and why not.

Picking the right candidate is the first, right step and this should ring true for both political parties.

Do the people want the tried and tested candidates or will some fresh faces do the trick ?

A multi-billion question this will be and the think tank of the two political parties must have already started raising this poser.

For the good of Manipur, let the two principal political parties pick candidates who can do something meaningful for the people on the floor of Lok Sabha.

Studying the antecedents of the aspiring candidates too should be given primacy.

Why have 11 made a beeline for the Congress ticket and why are there a number of aspiring candidates in the bucket of the BJP ?

This is a question which the two parties should raise within sincerely.

Neither party would want to see their ticket wasted by picking the wrong candidate and the best way to go about it is to study the antecedents, the motive and the potential of the intending candidates.

Important too is the question, what Manipur needs and expects from their elected representative in the Lok Sabha.