Dimapur, February 22 (MExN): The Clean Election Movement (NBCC) has expressed disappointment over the BJP's decision to not participate in a Common Platform debate scheduled for February 23, in Dimapur. CEM's mandate is to facilitate a common platform for political parties and intending candidates to discuss their manifestos and ideas, it said in a press release on Wednesday.
As per the release issued by Convenor, Dr Villo Naleo, CEM had agreed to facilitate the debate after the BJP Party Office in Kohima called out for a debate on election manifestos with the Congress party on February 16. However, the BJP expressed their inability to participate in the debate, citing the “programme line up in the coming days with a galaxy of Star campaigners and Central leaders visiting the State in the run up to the State election,” it said.
The Congress party had responded positively to the invitation.
According to the CEM, the cancellation of the common platform may have caused inconvenience and disappointment to the public, and it apologized for the same. “We express our unhappiness to political parties that holds no political accountability and for lacking in translating their words into action,” the release stated.
Further, the CEM stated that it “takes exception to lofty rhetoric about democracy” and put on record that they endorse voting as one of the most powerful tools for change to keep democracy vibrant.
CEM stands for clean, free, fair, and informed choices, and the public sphere is the centre and medium of democracy, and all possible means and resources must be used to explore the possibilities of public discussion.
It also said that CEM's Common Platform is a non-partisan space staged for transparent, open exchange of ideas and beliefs in an unscripted environment that the public deserves in any democracy from their leaders and political parties.
Further, stating that Public desire, aspiration, and needs stands above party position and manifestoes, the release stated that the CEM would continue to work in enhancing a safe and neutral space for educating the citizens through the use of common platforms and other democratic means, it added.
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