Imkong Walling
Here is a plain trivia. Nagaland witnessed three elections in a space of less than two years— The 14th Nagaland Assembly elections in February 2023, the 18th Lok Sabha elections in April 2024 and recently, the Urban Local Bodies (ULB) elections on June 26.
The last time Nagaland was treated to three electoral pageantries in a space of two years happened two decades ago. It followed more or less the same timetable, the Assembly polls occurring in February 2003, followed by the Parliamentary polls a little over a year later in 2004 and the ULB polls in December of the same year.
Twenty years is a long time and things ought to have evolved. What must have possibly changed during the years in between? The most obvious change would be coming to terms with Electronic Voting Machines and the None of the Above (NOTA) option. Meanwhile, a hazy consciousness for clean elections developed.
The consciousness however remains elusive, and certainly did not show up in the municipal polls contrary to the State Election Commission (SEC) proclaiming it ‘peaceful’ and an exemplar for future ULB polls. An election devoid of grievous injury or death alone does not merit terming the process peaceful and fair, while, the stone-pelting, exchange of catapult shots and clashes between supporters of opposing camps, especially, in Mokokchung, was far from exemplary.
The police may have rounded up potential trouble-makers irrespective of party affiliation, caught a pistol and impounded some catapults. But it was obvious the SEC, its Returning Officers and police personnel turned a blind eye to blatant violations of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) and the use of brute numbers dominating queues at polling stations. Polling officials in connivance with colony councils letting ‘proxy voting’ need no mention.
Almost every restriction specified in the MCC ‘for the guidance of political parties and candidates’ was violated, which, of course, the SEC did not notice.
An alleged intrusion into a polling station by an MLA — a celebrated woman projected as the face of change and progress — had the SEC waiting for a formal complaint. It is quite obvious nothing would come of the complaint, if one even gets filed.
Only went “inside the compound” of the polling station, was what she claimed. The MCC states, “Ministers of both Central and State Government shall not enter any polling station or place of counting except in their capacity as a candidate or voter or authorised.”
Aiding MLAs avoid courting controversy in future ULB polls, perhaps, calls for legislation defining the perimeter of a polling station.
The infamous catapult catch, outside a polling station in the Dimapur Municipal Council’s Ward-2, involving an alleged unopposed ULB election winner of the NDPP from Chiephobozo, Kohima, was another highlight. The detained individual conspicuously shared the same surname with the NDPP candidate from Ward-2.
The SEC, on June 29, claimed that it was inquiring into the incident, only to pass moral responsibility to the candidates, voters and the political party. The party in question has not fared any better by remaining a mute onlooker.
The Election Commission of India and the Nagaland CEO have generally been perceived as bat-blind, but the SEC went a notch higher, turning out lacking in not only visual but also auditory senses.
The writer is a Principal Correspondent at The Morung Express. Comments can be sent to imkongwalls@gmail.com
