Our Correspondent
Kohima, Oct. 11 (EMN): As Nagaland prepares for bye-elections to two vacant seats, which has been scheduled for November 3, the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) is also reactivating its clean election campaign.
The general secretary of NBCC, Rev. Dr. Zelhou Keyho, told Eastern Mirror on Sunday that the council will pick up the clean election campaign and get in touch with its affiliate churches and associations to shoulder the responsibilities.
‘Within a week, we will frame out the activities and also the strategy, so that we reach out to the constituencies and also the candidates,’ he informed. ‘We want to remind our people that at this juncture, it is very crucial for us as well,’ he added.
According to him, it will be easier this time “because we can penetrate better, as we are not concentrating all over Nagaland”.
Keyho said that the churches and its associations will work to remind people ‘to vote right and also to think of leadership and not be swayed by money or other things; but to think of capable upright leaders, to elect them and put them in their leadership position’.
‘Buying votes has become an evil practice in our context and it is the root cause of evil because candidates have to spend so much money on election, and so when they come to power they take time to refill their expenses and forget about the work that they are entrusted to do,’ he said.
As far as the aspiring candidates are concerned, Keyho said they should be able to declare that they are willing to go clean and practice it.
He shared that once the candidates are declared “we will also talk with the candidate so that we keep track of the commitment we have made during the other elections as well”.
Sharing about clean elections campaign conducted in the past, he said that “it is difficult to say we have been successful because this dirty election has been there for quite a long time and it is deeply rooted in our system”.
However, Keyho said, he has seen people who are serious about it and do not accept bribes.
“So in a small scale, we also see the success of clean election campaign,” he said.
“And I have heard of testimonies where people refuse to sell their votes, so I think in a small scale we are successful but we still have a long way to go in our journey of fighting against a corrupt system,” he shared.