Poll toll

In little Sairang, at the gates of Aizawl, three young men have just wrapped up the day8217;s campaign. But the worry8217;s showing: 145...

In little Sairang, at the gates of Aizawl, three young men have just wrapped up the day8217;s campaign. But the worry8217;s showing: 8216;8216;What if he were to lose the elections? All that money. It will be gone. He will be in debt again.8217;8217;

With D-Day just hours away8212;the state goes to polls on Thursday to elect its tiny Assembly of 40 MLAs8212;more and more candidates and their poll managers are beginning to discover what it takes to jump into the fray. And this is when they find themselves gripped by a nervousness they hadn8217;t experienced earlier.

In Aizawl North I constituency, supporters of Lalzama of the Mizo National Front MNF say their leader packed off eight rivals in the 1998 elections: 8216;8216;Six of the eight lost their deposits. Four couldn8217;t even manage 100 votes each.8217;8217;

In another part of town, Lalhmingliana8217;s rooting for the Mizoram Peoples8217; Conference8212;it8217;s entered into a pre-poll alliance with the newly launched Zoram Nationalist Party and the combine today is a major challenger of the MNF and Congress8212;but is not sure how fortunes will fluctuate. 8216;8216;I have seen contests in the past where barring the runner-up, all have forfeited their deposits. Most manage barely 50 votes. I don8217;t know what makes them get into this. It8217;s sheer waste of time and money. I have seen lives ruined because they get deeper into debt.8217;8217;

It8217;s this 8216;8216;waste8217;8217; that has prompted the Church to caution candidates against going overboard in the run-up to the polls. The Mizoram Presbyterian Church Synod says that though the Government has permitted an election expenditure of Rs 3 lakh per candidate, excessive spending poses many problems.

In their election message, Church functionaries point out that 8216;8216;losers accumulate insurmountable debt8217;8217; and 8216;8216;those elected are lured to recover their expenses by corrupting public money8217;8217;. Maintaining that this only creates a rift between the rich and the poor, the Church has asked candidates not to organise public feasts during electioneering.

But men like Sangzuala, who have voted in every election ever since Mizoram became a full-fledged state in 1987, say not everyone listens to the Church. 8216;8216;The Church plays an advisory role. It8217;s there for your good. If you heed its word, you will not come to grief. But then the temptation to win is too great. Candidates even organise rock concerts to drum up support. You know how it8217;s with music here. They love to rock.8217;8217;

Story continues below this ad

All this costs money, even the door-to-door campaign8212;a far cry from the mass rallies in other states. The Church doesn8217;t approve of the door-to-door poll exercise because it has reason to believe that this is an easy way to lure voters.

8216;8216;Who8217;s there to check what8217;s being promised or offered? Why can8217;t you seek votes in the open? This practice should end,8217;8217; say votaries of public rallies. Others say door-to-door campaigns are better than the rallies: they don8217;t create snarls or disrupt public life. But they all agree few here can afford to forfeit deposits. Elections are an expensive proposition. And Mizoram8217;s beginning to discover it.