DIMAPUR, JUNE 7 (MExN): The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) today called for efforts towards changing the “corrupt environment” in Naga society and working towards bring honesty back. A statement from the NPCC President, K Therie said that the people of Nagaland must realise that “religion and administration must work together as it was in the past.”
“In the past leaders were self-content and worked hard. They fed people and gave them shelter in difficult times. They protected society and the village from enemies. Today our leaders are well dressed but without a source of income. They live with big designations and name plates but depend on others for their style and livelihood. We have to realise that beggars are not leaders,” the NPCC President added.
He further pointed to four focus elements order to make clean election a reality. They include Village/Urban Local bodies, ward and polling station wise administrators, government employees and security forces.
“Religion and Administration must go together. Village Councils and Urban bodies must now function with religion as a moral guide,” Therie opined. He called upon government employees not to fail society any more in enforcing election law. “We want them to be strong. It is they who allow corrupt electoral practices like proxy voting, booth capturing, unidentified voters, underage voters, etc.”
He further stated that presiding officers have magisterial power and can arrest any wrong doers on the spot or detain any voter if so deemed. “They can cancel election. Security is provided to enforce and protect the law.”
The NPCC President further urged deployed security to “stop allowing booth capturing and proxy voters to jump the queue which disables genuine voters from voting. They should identify that the person in the perimeter is a genuine voter possessing Voter Photo ID and does not have dangerous weapons that may distort peaceful polling,” he asserted.
He meanwhile observed that the “corrupt environment that covers Nagaland is a silent war that is killing the souls and future of Nagaland.”
