DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 23 (MExN): In a long time, people of Nagaland have observed peaceful elections. The state that went in for a 12th round of Legislative Assembly elections noticed unprecedented calm following tight security to the tune of 25,000 central paramilitary force personnel. The day also had its fair share of high drama and shady horse trading among voters and ‘agents’ of candidates.
Though election malpractices saw a dip in general, the electorate did not give up easy. As people steered clear of violence or were checked by keen security forces, clever ways to dodge the system emerged from bags slung over shoulders.
Managers at polling stations produced voter ID slips by the dozen as each person used their once-in-five-years opportunity to vote as many as ten times. However, a cleaner electoral roll meant a number of these fake voter ID slips (many without photos) could not be used to cast votes as they stood rejected. CRPF personnel on guard, however, stood befuddled as “in the name of peace” voters were allowed to go into the polling station as many times as possible.
In some polling stations, voter ID slips without photos were also tendered sans much ado. Some voters proudly recounted how they made a few thousand bucks through ‘proxy voting’. In one particular polling station, it was told that Rs. 100-200 was guaranteed whether proxy or genuine. It was told that one person could vote for even five persons at one go.
In another polling station, one voter coolly said that he sold his vote for Rs. 2000 to an agent representing a candidate.
A journalist from this newspaper was allowed into a polling station thrice with three different voting slips on an experimental basis. All names were those of deleted voters.
While certain parties managed this system in Dimapur well, other more local ones not proficient with the system of manipulation tried to break in through manpower. This could not be made possible, for instance, in the Dimapur Duncan area (North and East) polling booths which were evacuated after 30-40 boys, mostly from outside the constituency alleged locals, were brought in to cast votes without even fake voter ID slips.
Nervous CRPF personnel stood around till NAP came to the rescue and averted a volatile situation. Almost 80% voting was recorded in these booths.
Some rural areas in Kiphire, on the other hand, noted 95-98% voting. Even dead men are said to have cast votes here where Village Councils managed mass scale voting. The rest was managed by women who took the lead, under the pretext of serving tea and food, to walk into polling stations, cast a few votes and cruise out. This is true of both urban and rural areas in many districts. Women could rarely be seen today without sling bags, stuffed with Xeroxed voter ID slips.
The use of nail polish remover and ‘Velocity’ hair curling cream to get rid of the mark of a voter reached a feverish pitch at one point.
In many rural areas, the practice of one family member casting votes for all members of the family remained rampant, as sources from Phek, Kiphire and Zunheboto confirmed. In the urban sector, amid the much hyped clean election campaign by NBCC, some prominent Church leaders were also seen casting votes on behalf of some members of their families. In some areas in Dimapur, GBs, taking over the role of polling officers, connived with political parties to let in voters already assessed to be for a particular party. The rest were kept waiting, at times till voting time ran short.
Going by the day’s activity, the definition of the slogan ‘free and fair poll’ was taken to a new level. The people seemed to have come up with their own interpretation wherein all and sundry was allowed to vote irrespective of the legality involved, caste, class, age and gender. One polling agent told this reporter that for the sake of maintaining calm during polling, all the agents representing their respective candidates in the polling station came to a mutual understanding, that, of not raising objections over the legitimacy of a voter or questioning the authenticity of a voter slip. They also took into confidence the government appointed polling officials. It turned out that polling concluded peacefully in that particular polling station.
 MEETING RESOLUTION.JPG)
