SAMIR K. PURKAYASTHA
Kohima, March 2: If one M doesn’t work, try the other two — it is a winning formula that has rarely failed an election candidate in Nagaland.
Whatever the Election Commission might do to ensure free and fair polling, madhu (liquor in Nagamese), money and muscle remain the three decisive factors in any election in that state.
A candidate said madhu was the weakest of the “M siblings”. On its own, it does not wield influence and works merly as an “enhancer” that boosts the power of money.
Money, as one would expect, works like a charm.
“From the lowest-ranking volunteer to the chief election agent, no one will budge an inch without money. When madhu and money fail to yield the desired results, muscles are flexed,” the candidate said.
In the run-up to the polls this year, several candidates are known to have taken recourse to the “last resort”.
The influential Naga Mothers’ Association has now implored women to “empower” men so that they can act with “reason and wisdom”.
Terming the excessive use of money in elections a “dangerous trend”, Nagaland PCC president H. Sumi said it was a sad state of affairs. “What we are witnessing here is not democracy but moneycracy,” he said.
“The ballot battle in Nagaland has earned the reputation of being one of the most expensive elections in the country only because the candidates have to fund various camps and pay daily wages to volunteers besides buying votes and garnering gangs specialised in electoral malpractices,” analyst Geoffrey Yaden said.
When this reporter visited the Dimapur residence of a Congress candidate, he was sitting with a bagful of money surrounded by youths and elderly people seeking cash. He obliged them all.
“You cannot say no to them. People these days treat their votes as ATM cards and us as ATM machines where they just insert the cards to collect as much money as they like,” a Nagaland People’s Front (NPF) candidate said.
“No candidate can even think of putting up a decent fight, forget about winning, without a minimum budget of Rs 5 crore. A commission can never check this practice because it does not dig deep into the irregularities.”
Former minister Kakheto Zhimomi, who is contesting the Ghaspani-I seat as an Independent, said most voters ask for money because most candidates forget to fulfil their aspirations after winning elections.
It is a vicious circle Nagaland seems unable to get out of.
The Telegraph
Kohima, March 2: If one M doesn’t work, try the other two — it is a winning formula that has rarely failed an election candidate in Nagaland.
Whatever the Election Commission might do to ensure free and fair polling, madhu (liquor in Nagamese), money and muscle remain the three decisive factors in any election in that state.
A candidate said madhu was the weakest of the “M siblings”. On its own, it does not wield influence and works merly as an “enhancer” that boosts the power of money.
Money, as one would expect, works like a charm.
“From the lowest-ranking volunteer to the chief election agent, no one will budge an inch without money. When madhu and money fail to yield the desired results, muscles are flexed,” the candidate said.
In the run-up to the polls this year, several candidates are known to have taken recourse to the “last resort”.
The influential Naga Mothers’ Association has now implored women to “empower” men so that they can act with “reason and wisdom”.
Terming the excessive use of money in elections a “dangerous trend”, Nagaland PCC president H. Sumi said it was a sad state of affairs. “What we are witnessing here is not democracy but moneycracy,” he said.
“The ballot battle in Nagaland has earned the reputation of being one of the most expensive elections in the country only because the candidates have to fund various camps and pay daily wages to volunteers besides buying votes and garnering gangs specialised in electoral malpractices,” analyst Geoffrey Yaden said.
When this reporter visited the Dimapur residence of a Congress candidate, he was sitting with a bagful of money surrounded by youths and elderly people seeking cash. He obliged them all.
“You cannot say no to them. People these days treat their votes as ATM cards and us as ATM machines where they just insert the cards to collect as much money as they like,” a Nagaland People’s Front (NPF) candidate said.
“No candidate can even think of putting up a decent fight, forget about winning, without a minimum budget of Rs 5 crore. A commission can never check this practice because it does not dig deep into the irregularities.”
Former minister Kakheto Zhimomi, who is contesting the Ghaspani-I seat as an Independent, said most voters ask for money because most candidates forget to fulfil their aspirations after winning elections.
It is a vicious circle Nagaland seems unable to get out of.
The Telegraph
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