Poll day is over, let the work begin Beyond conducting election
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: January 31, 2012 -

Despite the seeming lack of expertise and low professionalism that were encountered at the polling stations, proven by the snail pace in which the queues moved, the State Chief Electoral Officer and his men seem to have done their job.

The EVMs have been secured, the polling personnel have returned to base, the expenditure team must have more or less collated their records, in fact the whole team must have nearly finalised the tasks assigned to them but with result set to be declared only on March 6, the job at hand still remains.

In other words, the election process is yet to be wrapped up and at the moment it is only the first chapter that has been closed.

Repolling has to be announced at certain polling stations.

Complaints and allegations have started and will continue to pour in and the Election office will have to study the merits and demerits of each case for ignoring them would amount to abdicating their responsibilities.

Some of the security personnel requisitioned from outside the State must have left for their base by now and herein emerge an interesting question on the security escorts provided to the candidates.

This is perhaps where the CEO and his team will face one of the more complex questions.

With the strength of the security personnel posted here depleting after the actual election day, how will the Election office address the question of providing security escorts to the candidates ? Threat perception over the candidates is obviously one important scale to determine this, aided no doubt by intelligence inputs, yet the need to ensure the security of all those who threw their hats into the electoral ring cannot be belittled.

Can there be a question of totally withdrawing all the security provided to some of the 279 candidates ? If the lack of security strength demands this, then would it translate to withdrawing all the security personnel from some of the candidates who are deemed not to come under any serious threat perception ? Or would this amount to exposing any of the candidates to danger? Heaven forbid, but if anything catastrophic happens, who would bear the responsibility in the event of security being withdrawn ? There can be no easy answer to this, and clearly the job of the CEO and his team is far from over.

Allegations have started flying thick and fast, with quite a large number of candidates demanding repoll in certain specified polling booths.

It is yet early days, but if the allegations and counter-allegations are anything to go by, then it is a sure indication that the day is still very young.

Already one woman has been killed in a 'post election' related incident at Wangjing-Tentha Assembly Constituency and this alone should be enough pointer to the reality that the ugly and seamy side of the election can still rear its head.

Compensation of Rs 10 lakhs each for the polling personnel killed at Chandel Assembly Constituency has already been announced by the CEO and while the prompt decision is welcome and laudatory, the situation demands that it should not end here.

How seriously has the Election Commission of India taken the killing of the polling officials, including a CRPF personnel ? Prima facie, everything points to the involvement of an underground outfit which is in a peace process with the Government of India and herein emerges the question of whether this matter has been highlighted with the seriousness it deserves to the Union Home Ministry ? Elections are about taking the mandate of the people to decide the next dispensation, but it also goes further than this, when viewed and studied against the backdrop of the principles of democracy which keeps the wheels of elections churning.

Change is constant in all elections and this should be the right time to view all the incidents of lawlessness, the open disruption of a process which is all about the people exercising the basic rights guaranteed in a democracy, in a new perspective.

Can the ECI set the ball rolling and lay down a precedent which can then be picked by the next Government after it is sworn in? Clearly the job of the CEO and his men extends beyond the conduct of an election and should serve as the guiding light on how rights institutionalised in a democracy should be protected.