Our Correspondent
Kohima, Jan. 25 (EMN): Chief Secretary of Nagaland Temjen Toy on Saturday stated that Nagaland was one of the most electorally illiterate states in the country; by the way we 'conduct and go our ways in electing our leaders'.
Toy was speaking during the 10th National Voters’ Day organised by the Election Commission of India under the theme “Electoral Literacy for Stronger Democracy” at Hotel Japfü in Kohima on January 25.
“I am not blaming the electoral department as they have been all out to ensure that elections are conducted smoothly, and over the years, the messages have gone strong and clear about having fair elections but how fair are our elections?” he asked.
He mentioned that there have been instances in Nagaland where he was told about the number of voters in a particular village or town were more than the population, and the number of vote poll more than the actual voters list.
“During election, there are religious leaders who succumb to money and there are young voters who succumb to alcohol and money,” he stated. He added that the entire face of Nagaland changes during elections and ‘we cannot call ourselves electorally literate as we have all these kinds of practices in Nagaland’.
“We have no moral authority to blame those whom we have elected when we ourselves have behaved the way during elections,” he stated.
He also mentioned that he has been voting in every election and opined that Kohima was not ‘so bad’, but asked the people to go to the districts and other villages to see how elections are conducted and appealed to everyone to be a part of the change.
“No awareness campaign is enough to help unless we as individuals change and then our families, relatives and so on,” he said.
He asserted, “Time has come for change and unless we as a people of Nagaland change, democracy is not going to be strong and effective for Nagaland.” He also appealed to the people of Nagaland to become missionaries of change starting with electoral practices, and to empower the villages, youth and women.
"It is our abundant duty as voters and as citizens of the state that this message should go far and wide," he told the gathering, adding that “the disease lies within the people and unless we change, the world is not going to change”.
He further reminded that elections has been constituted in India since 1950 and the election commission along with other officers in the state have been conducting elections, making sure that it is done in a free and fair manner and without any untoward incident.
“But of late, the election commission has gone one step forward where they have started looking at not only the conduct of elections but also in educating the voters in having various exercises and conducting various awareness programmes on the responsibility of citizens in entire electoral process,” he shared.
He also congratulated Dreamz Unlimited for their skits, saying, “They are doing immense service to our people by highlighting various social issues”.
Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora in his message, informed that the main aim of celebrating National Voters’ Day is to encourage, facilitate and maximise the enrolment of new voters.
“In a democracy, each and every vote matters,” he said. He also mentioned that the election commission of India has taken initiatives to maximise participation from all categories of voters and appealed to all the citizens to come forward and wholeheartedly participate in all the elections.
Thejawelie Gregory, deputy commissioner and district election officer, Kohima, encouraged the young and newly enrolled voters to actively participate in the electoral process stating, “once they participate, they will be able to elect the most capable leaders”.
chief electoral officer Abhijit Sinha said that electoral literacy is a process of transforming citizens into empowered voters by helping them understand the entire electoral process, the necessity to enrol as electors, and participate in the elections in an ethical and informed manner.
“It is the endeavour of the election commission of India and the entire election machinery of the state to create electoral literacy among each and every citizen for further strengthening the democratic roots of the state and the country,” he said.
Yanrenthung Tsanglao 38/C, PS 44 Wokha town, was awarded the best BLO at state level and Vito H Khulu, class 12, Government Higher Secondary School, Zunheboto was awarded the best campus ambassador at the event. They were awarded for rendering commendable services in the field of systematic voters’ education and electoral participation (SVEEP) and in the continuous revision of electoral roll 2019.
Tsanglao told Eastern Mirror that he was very excited for getting the award. “My message is that until all the people work together, it is a very hard task for error-free electoral,” he said and appealed to all the voters to make sure that elections are clean.
Best BLO from Kohima district were Neithongulie Nagi (8 Western Angami), Kevi Medo Sale (Kohima town), Ashenbu Kemp (10 Northern Angami I), Visetuonuo Rupreo (11 Northern Angami II), Ayhun S Kath (12 Tseminyu), Khrielehu (14 Southern Angami I) and Videse Pucho (15 Southern Angami II).