The campaign for Clean Election in Nagaland, spearheaded by the Church, is a much needed movement. Unclean election is regarded as the root cause of all evils in Naga society today, and it would be difficult to argue against that statement. There can be other arguments – like, the Indian Parliamentary form of government is not compatible to the Naga polity and, therefore, Indian electoral politics and party system is antithetical in the Naga context. It can even be argued that Indian democracy is diametrically opposite to Naga democracy. Be that as it may, the reality is that we are bound by the Indian constitution and we hold elections as prescribed by the Election Commission of India.
Now, therefore, to hold clean elections is of paramount importance for Naga society today to elect our representatives. Whether clean elections are held elsewhere in India or not is of no relevance here. This brings to us the question of why we needed a Clean Election Campaign in the first place. There are straightforward laws on how to conduct elections and it is amazing how those laws are never executed in Nagaland!
While it is the responsibility and duty of every citizen to uphold Clean Election, it is pertinent to ask a question to the Church here, who is spearheading the Clean Election Campaign. Is the campaign limited to creating mass sensitization and awareness on the importance of Clean Election? If not, why won’t the Church in every village take the lead to scrutinize the electoral roll in their village and delete all bogus names from the list, to start with?
Mokokchung Times