Elect candidates with integrity
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: January 05, 2012 -

With the filing of nominations of the candidates, the process for the election to the 10th Manipur State Assembly has begun. The so called election fever is palpable in the air.

The intending candidates are seen going around house to house campaigning. Numerous meetings are being held in every other localities by the supporters and activists of the contesting candidates trying to create an atmosphere conducive to their success.

On the other hand, hectic parleys are on for tickets for the various parties. Many of the parties have already announced the names of the candidates who will be contesting under their symbol.

But the most sought after party tickets - that of the Congress is yet to be announced and, there are reports that many prospective candidates have set up camps in Delhi, where the list sent up by the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee is awaiting clearance by the High Command.

By today, the list is most likely be known and with it, a sense of triumph in many camps and dejection in many others. As things stand now, many candidates feel that getting the Congress ticket is half the battle won, a view also shared by many of the locally bred psephologists.

Given this kind of premium on the Congress ticket, it is no wonder, many sitting opposition MLAs are also reported to be in the running for the coveted ticket.

The announcement of the list will lead to realignment and adjustments between the various candidates within a constituency. For, there is little likelihood of those who have been denied the ticket sitting quite and retiring gracefully.

Many of them are sure to contest under the symbol of other parties or stand as independent candidates. Yet some others amongst them will transfer their allegiance and vote banks to other candidates, who are likely to defeat the person who pipped him at the post for the Congress ticket.

Such realignment of forces in some constituencies is likely to have significant impact on the final result. But we as voters should not encourage those persons who change their political colours at the drop of a hat, prompted solely by the benefits such a move is likely to accrue to them.

In this state there is a tendency among the voters of every constituency to elect someone who will be part of the party likely to form a government. Many leaders of the party openly pour ridicule on the voters of certain constituency for having elected someone who sits in the opposition bench.

This is nothing but a travesty of democracy itself. In fact, opposition is what differentiates democracy from other forms of government.

And effective and strong opposition is the essence of a democratic polity. The opposition is there to ensure that the government is accountable to the aspiration of the people and does not start acting on its whims and fancies alone.

But here in Manipur, the idea seems to be to derive maximum benefits by inching as close as possible to the ruling disposition. This is true not just for those representatives in the ruling bench but also for those who are supposed to examine critically the working of the government and point out their mistakes.

The MLAs should demand development of their constituency as a matter of right and not beg for it from the chief minister or any other ministers as some kind of favour.

The same goes for the MLAs themselves, they should look after the needs of each and every locality in their constituencies without considerations of which locality supported him/her or which did not.

As the election nears, it is our sincere appeal to every voter to elect capable persons but most importantly elect persons with integrity and not some middleman.