NPCC condemns electoral malpractices

Dimapur, April 11 (MExN): While lauding the law enforcing agencies for peaceful conduct of elections, the NPCC today stated, massive proxy voting and several malpractices that adorned majority of the polling stations exposed the inadequacies and complicity of election officials and the state government machinery.

In a press statement, the NPCC Media Cell said that the low voter turnout in many polling stations that translated into high polling percentage “sums up the dubious process of election conducted by polling officials who must have been pressurized to act at the behest of the NPF government.” It further questioned the “deafening silence of the NBCC on the electoral malpractices which is in direct contravention of their ‘Clean Election Campaign’.” The massive SVEEP campaign undertaken by Election Commission in all districts has miserably failed to convey the message other than providing local entertainment, the NPCC added.

It further asserted that the emergence of rampant declaration of support for a particular candidate/ party by village councils and tribal hohos/ councils has made a mockery of the entire democratic process. “It was unfortunate that an apex body of a particular tribe choose to declare their support for DAN candidate on behalf of all their people residing in Dimapur district.” This “biased and shortsighted” decision made by handful of leaders, the NPCC said, needs to be questioned and condemned by all right thinking citizens irrespective of political affiliations “before the entire democratic process gets subverted to suit the requirements of some few leaders with vested interests.”

With massive proxy voting that was even captured live on webcast in some polling stations and the election machinery rendered totally impotent, the NPCC added, “democracy has been murdered in Nagaland and unless the people rise up to the occasion by shedding their current indifference as seen by low voter turnout, polling in Nagaland will continue to be a mockery and will destroy the remnants of whatever little we have achieved in 50 years of statehood.”