Nowhere
people
The electorate of seven Assembly constituencies in
Thoubal district has reasons to be aggrieved and
outraged. The voters of these constituencies have
the right to exercise the adult franchise to elect
their representative to the Lok Sabha, but they
are not allowed to enjoy the right to contest
elections to the Parliament.
India is the largest
democratic nation in the world and Manipur is a
part of the Indian Union. Thoubal is a district in
Manipur and as such the injustice
meted out to the voters of these seven
constituencies calls for the strongest form of
protest. These constituencies fall under the outer
Manipur parliamentary constituency, which is a
reserved seat. Hence the voters belonging to the
general category in these Assembly constituencies
do not have the right to contest the election. In
plain words, these electorates are being treated
as second class citizens or some co-members of an
organization, who do not have the right to fight
the election.
India became an
independent nation in 1947 and bosses in New Delhi
are claiming that the country has become a super
power. But its claim of equality amongst the
citizens sounds hollow when it comes to these
seven constituencies. The woes of the electorate
do not end with the denial of the right to fight
elections to the country's parliament. The voters
have been complaining that they have been
neglected by both the MPs elected from the Inner
and Outer Parliamentary constituencies. As a
matter of fact these unfortunate people seem to be
living in a no man's land between two countries.
For more than five decades their voice has not
been heard neither at Imphal nor at Delhi. The
State leaders should be partly held responsible
for the injustice meted out to them.
And now the hope of the electorate of enjoying the
right to contest the election seems to have been
dashed with the Parliament passing a Bill which
seeks to freeze delimitation of Parliamentary
constituencies till 2026 and the State assembly
subsequently ratifying the resolutions passed by
the Parliament in this regard. This means that the
voters of these constituencies will continue to
live without the right of fighting Parliamentary
elections for the next few decades.
The ratification comes
at a time when the people of Thoubal are
vociferously demanding their constitutional
rights. It should not be forgotten that most of
the parties had promised before the election that
they would work for greater representation in the
Parliament. The decision taken by the State
Assembly without noting the genuine grievance of
the seven constituencies is tantamount to
suppressing the rights of the electorate.
The attempt by the
Government to placate the agitating Opposition
members and electorate of Thoubal is not
convincing. Even if the House is compelled to
ratify the decision taken by the Parliament, the
House resolution could have reflected the genuine
grievances. Now it remains to be seen how the
coalition is going to include the constituencies
in the Inner as promised in its common minimum
program.
(Courtesy: The Sangai Express)
|
Welcome! 
International
Features
