SHILLONG: Speculations may be rife about who would emerge victorious in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from the Shillong parliamentary constituency, but the results on May 16 is all set to create an interesting but dubious record — a candidate winning the election with minimum campaigning.
With as many as eight candidates in the fray for the prestigious Shillong seat, voters across the Pine City and in the rural areas of Khasi-Jaintia Hills and Ri Bhoi were eagerly anticipating hectic campaigning by the candidates to woo the voters.
However, almost all the candidates resorted to a very low-key campaigning and chose to skip several localities in Shillong and its outskirts, without even bothering to visit the areas to seek votes.
A huge number of voters in several localities did not even see the face of the candidates they were supposed to elect as public representatives, since the candidates themselves concentrated their efforts in selective areas.
Restrictions put by the Election Commission of India also contributed to a low- profile election campaign as there were no posters or banners put up by the candidates in public places, which could have, to some extent, helped the voters to familiarize themselves with the candidates.
Congress member John F Kharshiing, who campaigned for the Congress candidate from Shillong Lok Sabha seat, Vincent H Pala, admitted that a lot of people especially from the rural areas had wanted to meet the candidates in person or atleast see their faces since many are not able to get access to newspapers and news channels in the interiors, but were left disappointed.
In rural pockets, the candidates limited their poll campaigning to meeting people during the weekly markets.
According to Kharshiing, the short duration of campaigning fixed by the Election Commission was the major factor the prevented the candidates to reach out to the people.
He also stated that the Congress party had declared the name of the candidate very late, which according to him was another reason for the low-key campaigning.
“There are at least 3,000 villages in Khasi-Jaintia Hills and an equal number in Garo Hills. Even if a candidate holds 200 meetings a day, it would be difficult to cover all the 3,000 villages even by using helicopters,” he said.
Interestingly, Kharshiing informed that while sharing his thoughts on the matter on micro-blogging site Twitter, he had received a reply from former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi, who argued that the campaign period is fixed by the Representation of People’s Act passed by Parliament and the EC only implements the law.
On the matter relating to low turnout of voters, Kharshiing said that lack of sufficient time to campaign could have been a reason.
To improve the turnout, Kharshiing suggested the need to circulate photos of all the contesting candidates in all the constituencies like the way the Election officials distribute voters’ slips.
The intention is to help the voters to familiarize with the candidates so that they can choose the right person. “If needed, the Election Commission can include the expense in this regard in the election expenditure of the candidates,” he said.
Whether it is the lack of sufficient campaign time or plain urban apathy, the low turnout of voters in Mawlai Assembly constituency (52.78 per cent) has perplexed many. Mawlai with a total of 36020 voters is the largest Assembly constituency in Meghalaya.
The percentage of voting in Mawlai was the second lowest in the State, with Pynursla constituency registering only 52.65 per cent turnout.
Out of 36020 voters in Mawlai, only 19010 voters including 10485 females and 8525 males, cast their votes.