Concern about holding free and fair election is in the agenda of all responsible organization or individuals. But are we merely paying lip service to it? As mentioned, every one of us from political parties, civil society, church, tribal hohos to politicians, we all speak about ensuring free and fair election. But do we know what it means to have free and fair election? Perhaps not because as you know, we are more concerned about the freedom to do as we want to do without having any regard for the rule of law or even our Christian ethos. Also we need to educate ourselves more about the democratic process of conducting election. We tend to overemphasize on the value of a vote or the actual exercise of voting on Election Day. No doubt, this is a vital component of exercising our right and to keep democracy alive. But we need to for a moment step back and reflect on the process of our democratic experience. If we can have a relook at the process perhaps we will be able to find the areas that require correction. A vital part of the election process is the electoral roll or what is commonly known as the voters list. All these years, we have never given much attention on how the electoral roll has been actually prepared or maintained. After all the starting point of our democratic exercise of election is the e-roll and it is the authenticity or otherwise of this list, which will determine the outcome as well as the quality of our elections. We need to understand that having a peaceful election with huge voter turnout should in no way be misrepresented as free and fair. As mentioned, the process has to be proper i.e. authentic e-rolls and the principle of one man one vote at the actual time of voting. Can we in Nagaland say with confidence that we fulfill these two vital processes? It is doubtful.
In this regard, the data about large number of bogus voters brought out by the Convener of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) K. Therie needs to be looked into by the Chief Electoral Officer, Nagaland. This is not the first time that the authenticity of the E-rolls has been questioned. It is also quite shocking to learn that in a Christian State like Nagaland, we are encouraging dishonesty and all sorts of illegality. The Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) has in the past spoken out on the need for electoral reform and having free and fair election. It will be the right thing to do if the NBCC can also lend support and effort towards cleansing the “erroneous/defective electoral roll” as has been brought to light. As clearly explained by the Election Commission of India, proper revision or verification should be done to ensure that every eligible voter is on the roll and every bogus voter is removed. Therefore revision should not be only about addition of missing names but deletion of bogus voters. The fact that many genuine voters have their names deleted means that an equal if not more names of bogus voters have found their way into the Electoral rolls. Hopefully the CEO Nagaland will ensure that there is 100 percent verification of electoral roll according to the guidelines of Election Commission. Besides the corrective measures on E-rolls, if we are to achieve free and fair election based on one man one vote—then all of us should also give inputs and suggestion on how to put an end to block voting that is widely prevalent in our State.
