Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee held its general session at the Conference Hall of Congress Bhavan, Kohima on April 21.
Demands return to ballot paper system in Nagaland State Elections, or one day polling & counting
DIMAPUR, APRIL 21 (MExN): The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) held its general session at the Conference Hall of Congress Bhavan, Kohima on April 21.
The general session reiterated the NPCC’s commitment, that given opportunity, “we shall resolve the political problem through peaceful means without compromising law and order.” It reaffirmed not to compromise on “our faith and identity.”
It further resolved to demand that ECI returns to the ballot paper system in Nagaland State Elections, or a one day polling and counting simultaneously. The party called for a top to appointing EVM Engineers to handle EVMs in Returning Officers’ Offices as they belong to EVM Manufacturing Companies. Officers may be trained to handle the EVMs if need be, the NPCC said.
It asked the people of Nagaland to “rise in your own corner and join the movement to defend and protect our faith, identity, economy and to resolve the political problem peacefully.” We also appeal to all likeminded leaders to join hands in defending the idea of a Secular India, the NPCC said.
Meanwhile, the party urged the Government of India to dismiss the UDA Government in Nagaland to pave the way for settlement of the agreements on the Naga political issue.
Addressing the programme, NPCC President K Therie highlighted the social, economic and political issues confronting the state. He said that corruption had seeped into every layer of governance and the time has come for Naga society to stand up against corruption and dilution of identity and culture.
Therie stated that uncontrolled price hike has affected every citizen while the government has no programme to control price hike, extortion and corruption. He said the people are made to pay multiple taxes while development funds are shared without works. “There are so many unverifiable projects, money drawn but work not found, while the state’s deficit has grown to 2600 crores”, he stated.
On the political issue, Therie said the 9 decades old issue continues to haunt the young and the old alike and that the current political scenario and delay in implementing political solution is taking its toll on the economy and society.
He further said it has been observed that AK Mishra, representative of GOI has failed to take forward the two official agreements that were signed between Government of India and Naga National Workers. He stated Mishra is not transparent before the stakeholders and has continued to ignore the stakeholders’ demand for urgent settlement while continuing to enjoy the hospitality of the Chief Minister. Therie said another opportunity is coming in 2023 for the people to decide its future government and therefore the people must choose their future wisely.
Therie also said the danger of one’s identity being submerged is become more of a reality than a threat and urged the house to be conscious to the communal violence and intolerance towards minority communities occurring across the nation.
He further addressed the issue of EVMs stating that the EVM system of election is not tamper proof with multiple opportunities for manipulation in the present system. He said the missing 19 Lakh EVMs manufactured by the two state run companies BEL and ECIL cannot be accounted for by ECI and that there is no other reason for missing EVMs than to manipulate election results.
Urging party rank and file to stand strong against the odds and to work harder to further the programs, policies and ideology of the Congress party, Therie further urged the party workers to renew their efforts in the currently underway enrolment exercise.
Speakers who addressed the session included Working Presidents Khriedi Theunuo and Bobby Panicker, who also invoked the Almighty’s blessings and General Secretaries Capt GK Zhimomi and S Supongmeren Jamir. Reports from the DCCs and Frontal organizations including Minority Department of NPCC were presented to the House by respective representatives while the vote of thanks was proposed by Vice President W. Akum.
