Here’s How People In Mizoram Ensure Elections Are A Peaceful Affair Not Driven By Money

While the rest of the state is asking the Election Commission to increase the limit of election expenditure, Mizoram appeals to reduce it. But why?

A piece of positive news has emerged from Mizoram in the midst of elections due to the increasing use of money force and the challenges faced by the Election Commission to curb the election expenditure of the candidates.

The limit for the election expenditure of candidates in the state is Rs 20 lakh (eight lakh less than the rest of the states). But leaders of different parties have demanded the Commission to limit it to eight lakh rupees only. Most of the candidates had to struggle to spend between Rs 10 and 20 lakh in the recent assembly elections.

Election sources say that while the rest of the country receives requests for increasing the expenditure on election expenses, Mizoram is the only state to appeal for a reduction in the expenditure. Former Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat also said in his affidavit recently, “All the candidates in Mizoram say that they do not have to spend so much money in the election. Therefore, this amount should be limited to eight lakhs.”

Armstrong Pame, IAS officer of Nagaland Cadre, who was the supervisor of the Mizoram assembly during the Mizoram assembly elections recently, said in a Facebook post, “My experience as a supervisor in Mizoram was very disillusioned. There the elections were peaceful and there was no disturbance. “

His post, written on December 2, has received more than two thousand likes. Pame says, “Many candidates could not find any way to spend more than 10 lakh rupees or more.” They say that the people of Mizoram want to ensure that due to the shortage of election expenses, no qualified and better candidate is left out of the election.

In the electoral atmosphere, leaders from other parts of the country visiting Mizoram might be surprised. Here, all the parties, who are fielded in the electoral fray, adhere literally to the Model Code of Conduct. But the credit goes to the Mizoram People’s Forum (MPF), sponsored by the church.

MPF is more effective and powerful than the Election Commission here. It would be right to say that in case of the code of conduct, the guidelines laid out on his behalf prove to be the stone rack. This time the picture was no different. On the 28th of the last month, for the election of 40 assembly seats in the state, at least one of the MPF members were present in the state campaign along with all the candidates. In the elections of 2008 and 2013, the MPF had made a common platform for promotion in every area. Every party in the area used to campaign or rally on the same platform from time to time. Then the candidates were banned from going from house to house. But this time the MPF had given permission to promote it by going home from home.

Due to the guidelines of the MPF, there are no posters and banners in any part of the state including the capital, Aizawl. Similarly, it is rare to see the political rallies with loudspeakers like in other parts of the country. By the way, it was not always like that. After getting Mizoram’s status, all the candidates in general usually organised community banquets in their respective areas. During that time there was also a tradition of distributing money in the voters. But the state’s powerful organisation Young Mizo Association had banned it in the ’90s.

Like every time the organisation had issued some guidelines for political parties and candidates and their impact was clearly visible. In the remaining states of the country where elections are held with the help of money and muscle, it can be the reason for the defeat of deserving candidates. In Mizoram, the electoral moral is different from the other parts of the country. There is no noise, it is the effect of the MPF’s guidelines.

Armstrong was surprised at the money spent on elections of the Mizoram People’s Forum (MPF) organised by the church. The representative of the organisation lived with all the candidates and their supporters during the election campaign. His motive was to ensure that unfair methods or money force could not be used to woo voters.

Pame, while comparing Mizoram with his duty as a supervisor in West Bengal, has written that no party or community banquet was organised before voting in this northeastern state. State voters do not want to drink tea from any political party’s money. Says Pame: “Mizoram people take voting very seriously. There is no crowd of thousands more than one thousand and a thousand people in the meeting of a star campaigner.”

Mizoram citizens are not surprised at this, the voters are accustomed to it since the beginning. But the leaders, supervisors and other people coming from outside are shocked at the fact that how the election campaign went on peacefully. Other states and statesmen should take lessons from Mizoram on what an ideal electorate should look like.