Electoral battle for Outer
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: March 25, 2014 -

candidates contesting for seat of Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency :: Pix - Hueiyen Lanpao

Even though one has to ‘officially’ wait till March 26, the last date of withdrawal of candidatures, to get the final picture, nonetheless, we could now safely assumed that the stage for the ballot battle for the 16th Lok Sabha election with regard to the Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency on April 9 has been drawn up since the nomination papers of all the 10 candidates aspiring to contest for the reserved (ST) seat have been cleared during scrutiny of their nomination papers on Monday.

Apart from clearing the candidatures of Thangso Baite of Indian National Congress (INC),
Prof Gangmumei Kamei of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP),
Chungkhokai Doungel of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP),
Kim Gangte of All India Trinamool Congress (AITC),
Lamminlien Gangte of JD (U),
Soso Lorho of Naga People’s Front (NPF) and
Khamchinpau Gangte of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP),
the Deputy Commissioner of Thoubal district, who is also the Returning Officer (RO) of the election to the Outer seat, has given the green signal to three other candidates namely Mani Charenamei, Amarson Sankhil and Lamlalmoi alias Momoi Gangte ( who had filed his nomination papers for candidature of CPI (ML), but could not furnish the required clearance from the party high command) to contest in the election for the seat of Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency as Independent candidates as well.

If none of the aspiring candidates withdraw their hard-earned candidatures on March 26, one can conclude that it is going to be the biggest electoral battle witnessed ever for the Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency of Manipur which is made up of 28 Assembly segments and reserved for the scheduled tribes (ST).

In the last Lok Sabha election, 9 candidates including three Independents were in the fray for the Outer seat.

Among the candidates this time, INC nominee and sitting MP Thangso Baite, AITC nominee Kim Gangte and Independent candidate Mani Cheranamei are three old faces who have already tasted success and elected to the Lok Sabha at least once earlier, while Prof Gangmumei Kamei of BJP and Chungkhokai Doungel of NCP, though seasoned politicians in the State politics, would be trying their luck for National politics along with the rest of the relatively newer political wannabes in the fray for the first time.

It is a matter of time only for us to know whether the polling for the Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency on April 9 would be in favour of the sitting or former MPs or the new players when the counting was done and the result came out on May 16, but one can’t help but be wondered at the polarization of politics on ethnic lines to the extreme between the Nagas and the Kukis, who co-inhabit in at least four hill districts of the State, like never before, which would never auger well for a multi-cultural society like Manipur.

This is where the electorates in Jiribam and seven Assembly segments of Thoubal district, who despite suffering the injustice of inclusion in the Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency without the rights to contest for the seat, could yet again play a significant role in deciding the fate of the election in favour of a candidate who can stand and work above the ethnic lines in the larger interest of the State.