Accepting defeat before the election
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: April 01, 2024 -

WITH none withdrawing their nomination papers, the stage for the 18th Lok Sabha election has been finally set for 10 candidates to lock horns for supremacy in the electoral battle for the two Parliamentary seats in Manipur, which is still reeling under the impact of an ethnic conflict that broke out on May 3 last year after the Kuki-Chin people clashed with the Meitei/Meetei aftermath of a court order related to the latter's demand for recognition as Scheduled Tribe (ST).

Of the 10 candidates who have been given the green signal by the Returning Officer (RO) after scrutiny of their nomination papers, six are now officially in the fray for the seat of Inner Manipur Parliamentary Constituency while four would fight out for the Outer seat, which will go to the polls on April 19 and 26 respectively.

With political bickering and clamouring among the supporters of the candidates already reaching a feverish pitch, the demand for deferring conduct of the election until resolution of the nearly eleven months long ethnic conflict in the state, that has so far claimed hundreds of precious human lives and rendered thousands of families homeless, forcing them to seek shelter in relief camps, or the stand purportedly taken by some sections of the society to boycott the five-yearly democratic exercise of electing representatives by the people seems to be becoming irrelevant today.

In fact, along with appointing designated assistant returning officers, arrangements have been made for setting up special polling stations for the eligible voters from among the internally displaced people who are taking refuge in the relief camps to cast their votes, and not even a murmur of protest has been heard from anywhere.

This goes to show that the votes are more important than the predicament of the displaced people for the authorities concerned and those who are raising the demand for deferment or boycott of the election are doing just for the heck of it.

On the other hand, it is interesting to note that apart from the obvious choices made or not made to contest for the seat of Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency, most political parties could not find the right man or woman from within their own ranks to put up for the electoral fight from the Inner Manipur Parliamentary Constituency this time.

Unlike in precious election when there was no dearth of ticket seekers, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had to wait till the last minute in deciding on fielding Th Basantakumar, who is presently the minister of Education and Law in the government, as its candidate for the Inner seat by dropping sitting MP and Union minister of state for external affairs and education RK Ranjan Singh, while the opposition and Indian National Congress (INC) is relying on Dr Angomcha Bimol Akoijam, who joined "the grand old party" only after his name was officially announced as the party's candidate for the Inner seat, to take on its political rivals.

Likewise, despite being the oldest regional political party in the state which had even formed the government thrice in 1972-73, 1974 and 1990-1992, Manipur People's Party (MPP) had tried hard to make a comeback by projecting actor-turned politician Rajkumar Somendro aka Kaiku as its face in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.

But the election authorities rejected the candidature of MPP owing to irregularities detected in the documents of the party submitted even though Somendro has been allowed to contest the election as an independent candidate.

To cut a long story short, inability of the political parties to come up with candidates from within their own ranks has not only shown erosion of the trust of the people on the existing political party system in the state but also the realisation of the same fact by the political parties themselves.

In other words, the political parties have already accepted the defeat in the election, regardless of their "loaned candidates" emerging victorious in the 18th Lok Sabha election.