Editor,
The General Elections in Meghalaya has been announced by the ECI on Wednesday, January 18. Below are musings on the background and the way forward as conscious voters:
As a person who is still travelling around in the State, I get the impression that generally people of the three main regions of Jaintia, Khasi and Garo Hills are absolutely fed-up with the corruption tainted MDA government. If Dr Mukul Sangma and his friends had remained in the Congress there would have been no chance for the NPP to return to power. But with the break-up and birth of the TMC in the state, now it’s anybody’s guess as to who will carry the trophy. As for the UDP, it simply has, time and again, proved to be a parasite party – clinging on to any party so as to feed on the perks of powers and to hell with ideology! VPP, a new party with laudable declarations and largely educated candidates (a party I would have felt comfortable with), is again a new entity and it’s anybody’s guess as to how it will perform. The BJP may improve its position, but my optimistic opinion is that they will not cross 5 seats at the most.
The way forward is to vote for a party that has the greater chance of more winning candidates so as to throw out the NPP that led a shamelessly corrupt government and was flirting with a divisive party like the BJP.
Yours etc.,
Eugene Thomas,
Shillong- 6
EVM: The unfinished agenda
Editor,
Now that the Election Commission of India (ECI) has visited Meghalaya and told candidates to identify themselves and declare themselves free of any criminal charges, there remain two unfinished agenda. First, in 2018 quite a few EVMs experienced glitches in many polling booths. At some polling stations voters became impatient and were disheartened by the long wait so they left without voting since they could not forfeit a day’s livelihood.
The second glitch was regarding the Verifiable Paper Trail for the Lok Sabha election 2019 where it was revealed that there were some anomalies vis a vis the VPT. One voter from Assam and two from Delhi stated that they voted for one candidate from a particular political party but the VPT revealed some other name and party.
Voters are equal in law so let us skip the personality of the person from Assam who was a former DGP). After casting his vote he complained to the Presiding officer that the VPT failed to display the symbol on which the button was pressed. Rather he was challenged to press one button and if the machine fails to register the right candidate and party then he emerges victorious but if for some reason the machine registers the correct candidate and party then he would be penalised and have to pay a hefty fine.
Few people would dare to challenge a machine so the former DGP refused to make a formal complaint. The point here is that such malfunction would not happen with a ballot box. How could a voter stamp on one symbol and approach the Presiding officer because his seal was stamped on another symbol like the bicycle? The EVM is completely different from a ballot box and before the elections the EVMs should have been checked in case they malfunction.
There were three people who complained to the ECI regarding the EVM malfunction. The former Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi had twice ordered the ECI, Mr Aurora at the time to look into the complaints but there was no response until the poll results were declared.
The doubts and fears of voters, be they of any status in life should be addressed so that it would inspire confidence in voters and they would feel that justice is served.
Yours etc.,
W. Passah,
Nongkrem
Unresolved issues in Jowai
Editor,
In Jowai Town, there are two abandoned buildings as far as the eye can see. One such building is the hostel of the Government Girls H S School. Once upon a time, the cook of this hostel was the late Kong Pornolin Gassah. May her soul rest in peace. Attending her funeral, which was two days ago, got me thinking about the conditions of the hostel. What was once an affordable hostel for so many students outside of town is now sadly an abandoned building and a hub for juvenile delinquents. In 2019, reports made by various online news media is that the dilapidated hostel is not in a stable condition to accommodate students. Four years have passed and we are yet to see the required renovations to be done.
The other building left orphaned by the government is the market building in Iawmusiang Jowai. The story about this building is that tall promises were made by a certain politician five years ago. The fruit of those promises are now seen by the people going in and out of the Iawmusiang market; It is just another unfinished construction Currently, the said building looks like a garbage dumpster. One can only imagine the pathetic sight of a market that co-exists with a huge pile of garbage. Perhaps the said building will be used again as an election gimmick this year.
Lastly, huge piles of garbage are giving out a stench in every nook and corner of Jowai Town yet again. Recently, the Jowai Municipal Board had allotted plastic tins and even scheduled the days for the garbage pick-up trucks to come. There was even a segregation plan. At first, the public could see the plan coming into fruition but it was short-lived. There is a lot of irregularity of the garbage pick-up trucks, besides their not abiding by the schedule. Here, it is safe to say that the public is ready to follow instructions, but the inconsistency of the garbage trucks have led to another failure of segregation of garbage in each and every household. Can the Jowai Municipal Board update the public with regards to the segregation of garbage in Jowai Town? As for the two abandoned buildings are concerned should not the concerned authorities take swift action for their maintenance?
Yours etc.,
O.Laloo,
Mynthong, Jowai.