Choosing the right candidate is key : Eyes on BJP, Congress
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: February 22 2019 -

It is early days yet, but it stands that choosing the right candidate is the first big step towards fighting the coming Lok Sabha elections.

And this is particularly true for the two principal political parties, BJP and the Congress.

The Left, or rather the CPI is another political party that is more than sure to field a candidate and in Dr M Nara Singh, they may already have the man of their choice for the coming Lok Sabha polls.

As things stand at the moment, already 16 personalities are vying for the Congress ticket in the Outer Parliamentary Constituency and Inner Parliamentary Constituency.

Nine in the Inner and seven in the Outer.

Curtain has already been drawn on filing the nomination papers and a look at the personalities vying for the Congress ticket is interesting.

Save for one or two, all seem to be veterans, having faced Assembly elections at different points of time and even serving in the Council of Ministers at one time or the other.

This was obviously at that point of time when the Congress was a giant and lorded over almost everything but today things are different.

With the BJP in power at New Delhi and at Imphal too, it is the Congress which is today seen as the challenger and not the defender of the position of power.

And the question of how successfully they play the role of the challenger will be determined to a large extent by the choice of the candidates.

Interesting to note too that amongst the hopefuls are a handful of personalities who are political novice, but who nevertheless have managed to make a name for themselves.

Along with the fresh faces, there are the tried and tested and it remains to be seen how the Congress reads the pulse of the public and decide accordingly.

On the other hand, the BJP is yet to come out with an official list of those who are seeking the party’s ticket in the two Parliamentary Constituencies but already a number of them have launched their own poster campaign, without naming any political party.

This is what is seen in the Inner Parliamentary Constituency and it would not be surprising if the same script is followed in the Outer Parliamentary Constituency.

Poster campaign, attending events of importance, reaching out programmes etc are some of the approaches adopted and other than those who have come out in the open, there must be others too, quietly doing what ought to be done.

This is about some of the activities seen from those seeking the saffron party’s ticket and at the other end of the line, the saffron party too must be quietly but effectively studying the antecedents and prospects of all the intending candidates.

This is where the first important step lies.

Will the think tank of the BJP go in for the tried and tested, all those who have had a brush with politics in one way or the other and in the process have already created some sort of an impression on the people or will it go in for someone who is not remotely connected with day to day party politics but have been quietly and effectively doing what ought to be done ?

All questions at the moment, but to be sure the think tank of the two principal political parties must have started exploring all the possible avenues and choosing the right candidate will mean going off on a great start, a start which cannot be guaranteed by pedigree but by the personal integrity of the candidate.