Findings on what transpires in villages during election
- Church workers become trusted political agents during election
- There is an assumption that getting paid from many candidates is wrong; but from one candidate is okay
- Community voting is perceived to be all right so long as villagers give it to only a particular person
- Villagers say that issues of torture, kidnapping needs to be addressed
Moa Jamir
Pughoboto/Tseminyu | August 4
Clean election in Nagaland, though envisioned sincerely, is also limited by systematic maladies that hinder its successful implementation. These factors are socio-cultural, religious, economic as well as political undertones.
The reflections of 33 Oriental Theological Seminary (OTS) students who completed a one-month internship on clean election travelling across Pughoboto and Tseminyu from June 20-July 20 depicts these systematic realities. The findings are more or less relatable across Nagaland.
Trust deficit on the Church?
“When the people blamed NBCC and its affiliates for taking money from politicians, we were left speechless; there was nothing much to answer,” was a common observation of each team.
“The Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) and other apex councils are playing ‘hide and seek’ you guys are lucky, if some leaders had come, we would have given them (Church leaders) a piece of mind,” many told the team. Consequently, the Churches are often accused of improbity.
In some cases, “Deacons and church workers become trusted political agents during an election as they are supposed to ‘divide judiciously” what the politician gives,” observed one team.
What is the understanding of church leaders and are they taking the message of CEC seriously? Many wanted to know while maintaining that change should begin with the church.
The bottom line is that somewhere along the line, the churches are failing to connect with the common people and intimacy is lost resulting in skepticism about their initiative.
It is also a blame game. “We will stop taking money during Elections, if, the Village councils, officers, and big shots do not take money from any political party or candidate,” is another common refrain.
Taking money from only one candidate is okay
An election in Nagaland is still governed by village dynamics, groupism, clan, and range politics. It is a matter pride and such is the state of affairs people think, often rightly so, that development or things get done only if one has a connection with an elected representative.
In such scenario, community voting was considered all right as long as the villagers give it to a particular person. A village pastor told a congregation to take money from only one candidate. In both the areas, many people opined that “getting paid from many candidates is wrong, but taking from one and voting for the same is right.”
Such voting pattern is decided with the expectation of getting something in future. As long as they are given a favour, backdoor is okay.
During a home visitation, a GB requested one team to pray for a clerical job for his son who is now the village VDB secretary. In many villages, the proxy votes are all right as long as it was equally distributed among the different candidates.
What can we do if the candidates forcefully give us money during elections, questioned many.
In areas where CEC was strong during last election, a tactic applied was to ask for prayer and leave money secretly upon departure, all teams in Tseminyu and Pughoboto reported.
NPGs, SEC and Security
Another area of concern during elections was the role of outsiders – the Naga Political Groups, villagers residing outside and other villages.
“Tell outsiders to stop distributing money and alcohol in the villages during Election,” a villager bluntly told the Tseminyu Team.
“Almost all the people agree that one of the most common problems is the involvement of villagers residing outside, during an election,” said a member of Pughoboto team.
The villagers also asked for addressing the issues of torture, kidnapping and to make these issues clearer in the agendas of the NBCC and partners. It also involved setting up political party’s camps and intimidation either directly or indirectly.
Will NBCC be available when there is an election and give security to the people? was another recurring query. The role of State Election Commission (SEC) is also questioned. For instance, it is yet to create awareness about the clean election at the grass root level.
Others lamented that while SEC deploys security during elections, “they never do anything when malpractices or other activities occur.”
