Morung Poll results indicate fresh look at election
Morung Express News
Dimapur | November 5
Strangely, people prefer a non politician to a politician to represent them in political decision making. A poll conducted by The Morung Express has indicated bringing a fresh look at the upcoming elections in Nagaland State.
When asked ‘What kind of representative would you vote for? Why?’ with the options given as ‘A Seasoned Candidate’, a ‘A New Candidate’ and ‘Others’, 61% of the people who took part in the polls decided to opt for the third choice. Only 5% wanted to vote for ‘A Seasoned Candidate’ and 34% expressed the desire to vote for ‘A New Candidate.’
Poll participants assumed that a ‘candidate’—whether seasoned or new—would be someone trained in the craft of politics as it is today, while ‘other’ would be an outsider to politics as practiced in Nagaland State today.
Thus, in their choice of ‘others,’ one poll respondent stated, “In our Nagaland context we need to go beyond seasoned or new candidates. Both won’t work. What we need is a team of new candidate(s) who are God fearing, sincerely love our community, intellectuals, well informed, men/women of vision for the common good and humble.” A general lack of integrity was automatically delegated to a ‘candidate’.
“Neither a seasoned nor a new candidate implies a truthful, hardworking and sincere leader. So I would vote for someone else who has the integrity of character,” maintained a respondent.
Selflessness and a god-fearing attitude were reiterated, through the section on ‘others,’ in a future representative. “A seasoned candidate or a new candidate alone will not do. It has to be someone with principles, visions and concerns to work for the welfare of the people unlike the present representatives. It has to be someone who is well educated, well cultured and most importantly a God fearing (wo)man. Only then we will see change,” someone expressed.
Meanwhile, a respondent who would like to vote for a ‘new candidate’ noted that s/he should be “A new leader with visions and ideas for development of Nagaland. A leader with leadership skills.”
One respondent who would like to vote for a ‘seasoned candidate’ observed, “We need to separate the chaff from the grain. Not all seasoned candidates are bad. We need to give the good ones a chance.”
