Setting a date on November 21 : Two ACs two by elections
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: October 23 2015 -

Thangmeiband Assembly Constituency and Thongju Assembly Constituency.

Eyes must be on these two Assembly Constituencies and the gaze will intensify as the day draws nearer to November 21, 2015, the date the Election Commission of India has fixed for the by elections.

Tough to say which way the ball will roll or which way the voters in these two Constituencies will exercise their franchise rights, but everything indicate that the fight would be more like a one to one between the Congress and the BJP.

As things stand today, the former MLAs of the two Assembly Constituencies seem set to contest the by election as BJP candidates while their principal rivals will be from the Congress.

Interesting to note too that one of the likely Congress candidates is also an ex-MLA.

More than indicative that this time around the main fight will be between three former MLAs in the two Constituencies.

That leaves the likely Congress candidate in Thangmeiband AC as the man who has never been elected to the Assembly.

The equation is simple enough.

If everything goes according to the pre-poll hypes and calculations in these two Constituencies, then Manipur will see three former Legislators fighting it out for two seats.

Early days yet to indulge in some crystal ball gazing exercise but this is the time for the voters to seriously mull over what they expect from the candidates or more importantly on what basis they are going to cast their votes.

Campaigning has already started in these Constituencies, and the interesting point is what the voters expect from their candidates in the course of the campaigning.

What are the agenda the candidates have put before the voters ?

What is it that Thangmeiband and Thongju need ?

Have the candidates spelt this out and spelt out what they intend to do ? Have these questions been raised by the voters while studying the credentials of the prospective candidates ?

Elections come and go for this is a feature that comes after every five years, but why have the people not seen or experienced any qualitative changes down the years ?

These are all questions which the voters should be raising right now, but have they ?

An unpleasant fact it is but it stands that so far there is nothing much to suggest that some of these points have registered in the minds of the voters.

Go to any of these two Constituencies and one will get a fair idea of the point that is sought to be made here.

Have anyone raised the question of what their representative intend to do with regard to the pathetic water supply ?

How about the roads and lanes in each of these two Constituencies ?

How about education of the youngsters ?

In a span of five years the people of Thangmeiband and Thongju have been given the opportunity to raise these questions twice and while the by elections may have come at the cost of stability or continuity, this is also an opportunity that should not be lost on the people.

On the other hand the by elections may also be seen as some sort of a referendum on the Congress Government.