Cracking the repoll whip in Outer : Keep an eye on next 5 years
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: April 18 2019 -

Repoll in 19 Polling Stations in the Outer Parliamentary Constituency on April 18, the day the Inner Parliamentary Constituency goes to polls.

Not very extraordinary here for repolls have been held in the past and will continue to be held in the future too.

What however makes things a little uncomfortable is the fact that one can easily hear the rumblings of the deep ethnic divide with opposing voices being heard from the Outer Parliamentary Constituency.

So if it was the NPF which raised the allegations that EVMS were tampered at Churachandpur, allegations of some people belonging to a particular community being assaulted and thrashed have come pouring in from Kangpokpi and Senapati side.

This is where everyone needs to come face to face with the reality that in pointing an accusing finger at anyone, three more fingers automatically point towards the entity pointing the finger of accusation.

This is more than a figure of speech for this is something which anyone can try and see what happens when a finger of accusation is pointed, literally speaking.

So if what happened at Churachandpur was allegation of EVMs being tampered, what can one say about the ‘volunteers’ who volunteered to do the needful to get one’s vote cast ?

Granted no allegations have been raised on this count, but the reality tells a story which everyone knows but which no one wants to talk about for reasons which should be obvious to all.

All defeating the very purpose of holding the election to decide who should represent them in the Lok Sabha, but to many the price is too heavy to let the elections be held in a free and fair manner.

So 19 Polling Stations in the Outer set to go for repoll on the day the Inner Parliamentary Constituency is set to go for the 2nd phase of the election.

What is interesting is the emerging story of how some candidates have been dubbed as the B team of some political parties, all in a bid to ostensibly eat into the vote share of another candidate.

No one knows how far this is true or cognizable but the very fact that such a theory has been raised should tell its own story.

Part of any election, one may say, but this is no reason why care should not be taken to ensure that whoever gets elected fits the description of the people’s representative to the T.

It is also interesting that in the run up to the election, the Big Two, that is the BJP and the Congress, were more or less more obsessed with the objective of running down the other rather than concentrating on what their candidates intend to do for the people if elected.

No doubt the manifestos of both parties have been published and made public, but given the fact that Manipur has its own peculiar characteristics, it would have helped if the aims and objectives of the candidates had been spelt out more lucidly.

On the other hand the electorate too should acknowledge that election is more than just about deciding the fate of the candidates in the fray but about locking the fate of the people for the next five years on the EVM.