Church imposes own strict election code on Mizoram

Aizawl, November 27 (Agencies): With few posters and banners, no loudspeakers and a general absence of political hubbub, it is hard to say that elections in Mizoram, the mountainous state bordering Myanmar and Bangladesh, are less than a week away. This has less to do with the guidelines of the Election Commission of India than with the state’s own strict electoral code of conduct issued by the church. Television and mobile phones are the only campaign tools allowed ahead of the elections to the 40-member state assembly. In sharp contrast to the other five poll-bound states in the country, Mizoram, which goes to the polls Dec 2, is free from the hurly-burly of electioneering. “Thanks to the diktat of the Presbyterian Church, campaigning here is in a low key. Other Indian states could take a lead from Mizoram,” said Rev H Vanlalauva, president of the Mizoram People’s Forum (MPF).
The church-sponsored MPF, an umbrella of NGOs, has issued a ‘code of conduct’ for parties and candidates to follow during the elections. All the parties are strictly abiding by the guidelines. Vanlalauva said: “This is possible in Mizoram as the church has an overwhelming impact and domination on Mizo society.” In view of the MPF’s strict poll guidelines, the Election Commission’s statutory model code of conduct for the parties and candidates has become irrelevant. “We did not get a single complaint of violation of the model code since electioneering began last month,” said Lalhmingthanga, joint chief electoral officer.
Unlike most other Indian states, Mizoram also stands out for the fact that women voters here outnumber their male counterparts. There are 308,884 female voters as against 302,240 men, in an electorate of 611,124. But the state joins others in fielding fewer women candidates in the polls. Only nine women candidates found nominations in a total of 205 contestants.
There are no women legislators in the present assembly either, since all the seven who contested the 2003 elections had lost. Since Mizoram became a Union Territory in 1972 and a full- fledged state in 1986, there have been only three women legislators - Thanmawii (1978), K. Thansiami (1979) and Lalhlimpui (1987). Lalhlimpui was the only woman minister in 1987. The ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) has again nominated Lalhlimpui in the Hrangturzo constituency while the main opposition Congress has fielded its women wing supremo Zothankimi in Aizawl West. The United Democratic Alliance (UDA), a conglomeration of various regional parties, has fielded H. Lalhmingthangi in the Champhai South constituency against MNF chief and Chief Minister Zoramthanga.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) have fielded two women candidates each while two other smaller parties too have nominated two women candidates. “Mizo society in pre-modern times was strictly based as a patriarchal society,” said Sekhar Paul, a renowned sociologist. The women were largely relegated to the home and denied a public role in social and religious life, he added.
Another important feature in the Mizoram polls is that more than 80 percent of the 205 candidates are relatively young, aged between 30 and 45 years. However, among the three chief ministerial candidates, UDA’s 86-year-old Brig T. Sailo is the oldest candidate. MNF supremo Zoramthanga is 64 and the Congress’ Lal Thanhawla is 68.

 

 

New Delhi, November 27 (The Telegraph): Mizoram has asked the Centre to seal the Indo-Myanmar border, adding to voices from the Northeast seeking a check on smugglers and traffickers. The Mizoram government has sent a short letter to the home ministry on this, sources said. Earlier in the week, Manipur raised similar concerns while intelligence reports sounded an alert on an increase in arms smuggling on October 31. “They want the entire border sealed by deployment of paramilitary forces,” a home ministry official said.
According to sources, Aizawl had become a “wholesale market” for arms dealers who criss-cross Myanmar and Bangladesh via this porous region to sell their wares. Security agencies are also worried by Chinese involvement in arms smuggling. The Centre is alarmed by feedback on the NSCN (Khaplang) having contacts across the border with Myanmarese arms smugglers. The NSCN (Isak-Muivah) faction, too, is known to indulge in cross-border arms deals.
The matter came up for discussion between foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and Myanmar’s deputy foreign minister U Kyaw Thu in Yangon last weekend. Home ministry officials said it was not possible to give in to such requests as it is an “open border” and people of the two countries are engaged in regular trade. Moreover, “friendly” Myanmar joined the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) as an observer and will take over the chairmanship of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) next year.
Notwithstanding the concern over arms smuggling, the two countries have finalised the opening of one more border trade point at Avakhung in Phek district of Nagaland to promote trade. On Saturday, the Manipur police chief had asked home minister Shivraj Patil at a conference of directors-general of police to review security on the international border.

 

AIZAWL, November 27 (Agencies): Inspired by U.S. President-elect Barak Obama’s victory speech and his trademark slogan “change we need,” first-time voters in Mizoram say they want the December 2 Assembly polls to bring about a change in every sphere of life in the north-eastern State.
“Like Obama said change we need, it is time we change. We need change in every sphere. Change for the better. More particularly in education, we need a drastic change. We need better courses, infrastructure. We need better institutions… ,” Lalnunmawii, III year student of B.A. (English) of the Pachhunga University College here, told The Hindu.
Endorsing his friend, Jonathan Lalthingpuia, a student of third year of B.A. (Sociology), says: “We need quality educational institutions like the IIT, good engineering colleges, better courses, Internet facilities in our schools, colleges so that we can be on a par with students elsewhere in the world. We need a government in Mizoram that can bring about these changes.”
The total number of electorate has increased from 5,32,462 voters in the 2003 Assembly polls to 6,11,124, and a majority of the new voters are first-time electors. R. Lalrinmawia of III B.Sc (Chemistry) said Mizoram needed a combination of young people with new ideas and old people with experience to run the government. A majority of the first-time voters were born after the Mizo National Front signed the Mizo Peace Accord with New Delhi in 1986 to end insurgency. The ruling MNF, however, feels that its campaign film, “Farewell to Arms” on the two decades-long underground movement would inspire the first-time voters to back the party.
“The first-time voters are sure to have their independent thought. This is the case not only in Mizoram but also in other States and other countries. “We have been screening our film in every village so that those born after the signing of the peace accord may know about their past, the sacrifices made by their parents and elders for their present future,” said MNF general secretary and party’s campaign director F. Aithanga.