SHILLONG, Aug 26: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Saleng Sangma on Friday stressed that elections should be made free from money in the state as well as the country.
Talking to media persons here about the upcoming Assembly elections in Garo Hills, he said 20% of the voters sell themselves during polls by demanding money from the candidates.
“Not all but 20% of the people take money during elections and make a lot of noise. They demand money from all the candidates,” Sangma said.
He said the remaining 80% others genuinely love and support their candidates.
“The problem comes with these 20% people who play around and try to sell themselves. They play politics and not politicians. They do not look at the quality of candidates. They also don’t consider who can really deliver,” Sangma said.
On the elections in Garo Hills, he said it will be impossible to predict the situation. Sometimes, people agitate over different issues but they forget everything during elections, he further said, alluding to the 20% people in question.
The Trinamool Congress is perceived to have made some inroads in Garo Hills and the NCP legislator recalled that the late PA Sangma had won Lok Sabha elections from the region contesting on the party’s ticket. Their captain has changed from the late PA Sangma to Mukul Sangma, he said.
Asked if he is leaving the NCP since he is fighting a lone battle for the national party in Meghalaya, Sangma said he does not want to explore any possibilities.
He said he recently held a meeting with NCP top brass Praful Patel and Sharad Pawar in New Delhi where the issue of strengthening the party in Meghalaya was discussed.
Saleng found support from an unexpected quarter with the Hynniewtrep A’chik National Movement (HANM) predicting that the state is headed towards its worst Assembly polls since political parties and candidates are ready to pump in any amount of money just to win the election.
HANM president Lamphrang Kharbani said they have reports that in East Jaintia Hills political parties and aspiring candidates are trying to influence people by using money power.
“As per information collected by our members, political parties and aspiring candidates are ready to give each household Rs 1 to2 lakh to secure their support. This is not a healthy trend at all,” Kharbani said.
He also observed that elections in Meghalaya are more like festivals where candidates are providing food and beverages to the people and organising musical concerts to woo the voters.
He said it was time people realised that they need to appoint capable statesmen to make policies and laws for their benefit.
“We should never elect businessmen since their main agenda is to serve their own interest. We need leaders with vision and good educational background to lead us. We need to realise this before it is too late,” Kharbani said.
The need of the hour is to educate the voters to elect people who are able to work for the interest of the state. “We need able leaders who can come up with laws to deal with the problem of influx and strengthen the traditional institutions,” the HANM president said, adding that they would travel across the state to educate the people to shun politicians who make attempts to buy their votes.
