On February 22 night, candidates who could afford to splash around all the crores they have earned in their five year stints as MLAs and the other perks that they enjoy, distributed that money in the most skilful and deft manner. So much so the Chief Election Officer (CEO) and his huge entourage of detectives could not find out how so much money was floating around in Meghalaya. In this smoothly and ingeniously crafted exercise the so-called heads of traditional institutions at the sub-locality level (Rangbah Dong) and some of the heads (Rangbah Shnong) were complicit. Quite a good number of government employees also acted as cashiers without a twinge of conscience. They had sold their souls to the candidates, perhaps with the promise of a plum posting or a promotion. This sickening process is so unbecoming of a society that claims to have direct descent from the heavens (Ki Khun Hynniewtrep kiba mih na u lum Sohpet bneng)) or who are professed Christians who go to church every Sunday. Clearly the church going bit has not influenced our ability to judge between right and wrong. And on this score all denominations fare the same despite the call given by the heads of some Christian denominations to their adherents for a conscience vote. The character of the candidate was the least of the concern of those who facilitated the bribing of voters and of those who accepted the bribes. It was the colour of money that was important and we have to believe that those who helped distribute the moolah must have earned quite a bit of commission themselves. Is this what parliamentary democracy in our state has been reduced to? And yet we expect to have men and women of character and spine to lead us for the next five years!
The manner of voting is itself faulty. No one spoke about the importance of the political party. Every voter who spoke to television cameras spoke about the individual capabilities of a candidate, not of the political party he/she belongs to. It is this trend of voting that throws up a fractured mandate every election. While the individual’s virtues matter it is also important for him/her to belong to a party that has some hope of being able to form a stable government. But that has not been the theme of our election. For this political parties themselves are to blame for not sharing their ideology with the people and for using the political party only as a pre-election uniform which candidates wear for identification. Political education is the need of the hour and Meghalaya’s civil society like Meghalaya Election Watch must gear up to take on this responsibility of educating the public on political issues and the role of political parties.