Assignment for Political Science

Dr. Bijen Meetei

Kshetrigao at the crossroad: General Election, 2022

Submitted by:
Firoz Alam Ahmed
Pre-PhD Candidate
Political Science Department

Date:
Introduction:

Elections are part and partial of a functioning democracy. In democracy it is important to have
free and fair elections. It is the heart of the political process through which representatives are
elected to the Parliament and the Legislative Assemblies. Through elections people can control
the government and ultimately replace them when they fail to deliver on their promises. How
free and fair are elections in India with huge gap in the fortunes of different political parties and
the candidates is a question for another time. They are nevertheless participated with utmost
enthusiasm by voters and the political parties alike. Some of the concerns recently or perhaps no
so recent are the role played by money and muscle power in the elections. Thus raise the
questions: are elections truly democratic? Do ideology and political party play any role in
influencing the voters’ choice in the election? We’ll try to understand these concerns by
analyzing the general election of Manipur, 2022 in the Kshetrigao Assembly Constituency.

Brief Description of Kshetrigao Assembly Constituency

Kshetrigao is a legislative assembly constituency in valley region of Imphal East district of

Manipur which goes to poll on first phase on 28th of February. Kshetrigao is a part of Inner
Manipur Lok Sabha/Parliamentary constituency. This seat is categorized as general. The
constituency has total of 46 polling stations. The total area covered by Kshetrigao is
approximately 131 square kilometers.

The constituency is inhabited predominantly by

three communities’ viz. Meitei/Meetei, Pangals
and Kabui community. It is in the fourth number
in the list of sixty constituencies in Manipur.
People of Kshetrigao are engage mostly in
agricultural and allied sector. The constituency
has 4 canals whose water is derive from the two
important rivers viz. Iril River and Kongba
River, however water run dry during winter. In
health sector, it has four sub-primary health
centers and no primary health centre. More than
half of the households in the constituency do not have tap drinking water and they rely on water
tankers for drinking purpose. Many MLAs have in the past promise to provide drinking water
supply to all the households of Kshetrigao but it remains a promise till today.

Kshetrigao assembly constituency has a total voter of 36,651 of which 17,283 are male and
19,364 are female and other 4 are registered as transgender. Meitei Community being the largest
in the constituency has 22,721 voters and the Muslim community has 13,459 voters and 471
Kabui voters registered for the general assembly election, 2022.

In the 2017 Assembly polls, there were a total of 33,096 eligible electors, of which 15,997 were
male and 17,099 female.

Past winners/MLAs

In assembly elections of 2017, Nahakpam Indrajit Singh of BJP won by defeating Md. Amin
Shah of INC by a margin of 380 votes. BJP had a vote share of 34.36% in 2017. In 2012, Md
Amin Shah of INC emerged victorious beating then sitting MLA Thangjam Nandakishor Singh
of NCP by a margin of 2,994 votes. INC had a vote share of 31.31% in the seat. In 2017, there
were 8 candidates fighting for the seat of Kshetrigao and also exactly the same 8 candidates in
the election before. Given below is the table of the past elections winners-

Year Candidate’s name Party Votes Margin

2017 Nahakpam Indrajit Singh BJP 10,411 380
2012 Md Amin Shah INC 7,981 2,994
2007 Nandakishor Singh NCP 7,470 354
2002 Vivek Raj Wangkhem MSCP 6,510 372
2000 Basanta Kumar Wangkhem SAP 10,602 3,353
Candidates and the Political Parties in the Poll fray

There are total five candidates contesting from Kshetrigao Assembly in the assembly election
2022. Voters are expecting a tough fight between three candidates: Nahakpam Indrajit, sitting
MLA of BJP, Sheikh Noorul Hasan contesting under NPP ticket and Ex-MLA Amin Shah of
INC. Other two candidates are also in the poll fray and they are Wahengbam Rojit of JD (U) and
Punam Rani Wangkhem contesting on NCP ticket. Amin Shah won the 2012 general assembly
election while Nahakpam Indrajit who fought on BJP ticket in 2017 won beating Amin Shah of
Congress party. MPCC general secretary Punam Rani Wangkhem and Ex-MLA Amin Shah were
Congress aspirants. When the MPCC selected Md Amin Shah for congress party ticket, Punam
Rani officially announced resignation from the MPCC during a press briefing accusing the party
leadership of ignoring her service to the party for 38 years.

According to the election affidavit filed with the Election Commission, MLA Indrajit Singh
mentioned his profession as Politician and his qualifications is 12th Pass. Sheikh Noorul Hasan
who is fighting on NPP ticket had tried his luck before as an independent candidate in 2012,
however came in distant sixth place out of the total eight candidates. Since then he devoted
entirely on building a base among voters for himself through social works and other various
activities and he actually came a long way from it was before.. Noorul Hasan has also become
one of the most recognizable faces in Manipur because of his regularly appearances on news
television channels and other print Medias for debate and discussions. His profession according
to the election affidavit filed with the Election Commission is: Self Employed and his
qualification is post graduate.

Ex-MLA Amin Shah comes from a well known political family. His father (L) Md.
Muhammuddin Shah has remained a minister in the past and represented Kshetrigao for many
years. Punam Rani Wangkhem also came from a big political family. Her father (L) Wangkhem
Basanta Kumar represented Kshetrigao three times before and also his brother (L) Vivek Raj
Wangkhem won in 2002. Wahengbam Rojit Singh is the only candidate among the five who has
no direct connection with any political family.
Election Campaigning and Participation of Youth

Political campaigning is a major part of election process through which candidates try to woo the
voters in their favors. Election campaigns are conducted to have a free and open discussion about
who is a better representative and in turn, which party will make a better government. In India,
election campaigns take place for a three-week period between the announcement of the final list
of candidates and the date of polling. During this period, candidates contact their voters, political
leaders address election meetings and political parties mobilize their supporters. However some
candidates start campaigning very early before the announcement of election.

Some of the traditional ways of election campaign are door to door campaigning, neighborhood
meetings, community feast, bike rally, TV interviews and participation in debates and discussion.
Important party leaders are regularly brought in for campaigning and persuade the voters in favor
of their respective candidates.

One big difference from previous elections in the Kshetrigao constituency is substantial increase
in the participation of youth in election campaigning and other election related activities as never
seen before. Earlier youths were discourage to take part in the election processes, however
youths seem to have taken keen interest in the politics of Kshetrigao because of continued lack of
development in the constituency. This shift in the wind could be seen from huge participation of
young voters in the election rallies and campaignings and meetings. Kshetrigao needs to break
the chain of underdevelopment by previous elected representatives. And youths will play an
important part in electing a qualified and development oriented representative in the 2022
general assembly election.

Some guidelines for campaigning are given in India’s election laws. According to them, no party
or candidate can:

1. Bribe or threaten voters

2. Appeal to them in the name of caste or religion

3. Use government resources for election campaign

4. Spend more than 25 lakh in a constituency for a Lok Sabha election or 10 lakh in a
constituency in an Assembly election for campaigning and election related activities.

If any Political Party does so, their election can be rejected by the court. In addition to the laws,
all the political parties in our country have agreed to a Model Code of Conduct for election
campaigns and free and fair elections.

Role of social media

Social media have become ubiquitous communication channels for candidates during election
campaigns. Platforms like facebook and twitter enable candidates to directly reach out to voters,
mobilize supporters and influence the public agenda. These fundamental changes in political
communication thus present candidates with a widened range of strategic choices.

What is different from the previous elections has been the use of social media particularly
facebook as a tool to mobilize the voters by regularly updating the candidates itineraries and the
campaign information. All the information on candidate’s campaign meetings, rallies and other
public functions and gatherings are shared on facebook for all the voters to see and form their
opinions. Meetings and functions have been broadcast live on facebook, camera meetings have
been held which are broadcast across the constituency, so that every voters, young and old can
watch their leaders speak listen to their visions for the people.

Several facebook pages are created to increase the popularity of their candidates. This is a
phenomenon happening across party lines. What stands out in the case of Kshetrigao is how
effectively one candidate Sheikh Noorul Hasan has employed facebook in mobilizing his support
base to further his visions of the constituency.

Poll violence and money

Why is Manipur seeing an upsurge of political violence this election season? Killing of Rohit
Singh at Heirok Constituency heralded a season of poll violence in Manipur. Heirok remained
under curfew for days and heavy security deployment still remains in the run up to
the assembly elections. The father of the NPP’s candidate L. Sanjoy Singh from Andro seat was
also shot in the right shoulder by unidentified assailants. Manipur is not new to pre-poll violence.
The state has seen decades of militancy and violence has been inseparable in recent past. As they
waged war on the state, many of these militant groups tried to derail or control electoral
processes. But this time, voters and observers feel that violence comes from a different source.
Earlier it was militant violence and now it is political violence. Some of the pre-poll violence
was reportedly between BJP and Congress and BJP and NPP workers as NPP continuous to grow
in strength in the state.

Pre poll violence didn’t left Kshetrigao constituency untouched. Though historically Kshetrigao
has seen less violence compared to other constituencies, it was different this time. The shooting
of JD (U) candidate Wahengbam Rojit@Bullet by unknown assailants just two nights before
election creates an atmosphere of fear and violence in Kshetrigao AC. Had the attempt on Rojit
been successful, dynamic of the election results would have been different and it would only
benefit a particular candidate and a party. Guns and violence have been used extensively in the
past on the polling day to hijack the election. Violence has become a part of election strategy and
they have been carried out to intimidate the opponents and the voters. Open threats have been
given regularly to rival workers and voters of consequences if they fail to vote for them.
Occasional brawl and damage of vehicles and public properties often occurred as result of
clashes between workers of different candidates.

According to accepted wisdom, however, the party that commands the most economic heft and
muscle power wins in Manipur. Traditionally, that has been the party in power at the Centre.
Unchecked money and violence have destroyed the remaining semblance of electoral democracy.
The fight over party tickets turn nasty sometimes and it is no secret that huge amount of money
are paid to get party tickets.

It is not just tickets, candidates and party leaders in Manipur speak quite frankly about having to
pay voters to win. The story is no different in Kshetrigao constituency also. Candidates mention
their assets both movable and immovable in election affidavits while filing their nominations.
The BJP sitting MLA Nahakpam Indrajit has mentioned asset worth of Rs 5.6 crore in his
affidavit and is the richest among the candidates while NPP’s Sheikh Noorul Hasan is worth Rs
89.3 lakh, Ex-MLA Amin Shah has mentioned total asset of Rs 9.86 lakh and Rs 2.4 crore for
JD (U) candidate Wahengbam Rojit according to their election affidavits filed with the election
commission. These are small sum compare to the actual expenditure a candidate incurs till the
end of the election. It is open secret that a large amount of money is distributed night before
election day and It has become so normal to the point that nobody seem to bother about it. The
votes are for sale and the election commission is toothless in dealing with this massive
infiltration of money in the election.

The Election Commission limits campaign expenditure to Rs 28 lakh per candidate. In Manipur,
candidates across parties notch up a much higher election bill. It is very normal to spend Rs 5-10
crore on the 20,000-30,000 voters in each constituency in Manipur. That is insane amount of
money put into election. Ideology plays little part in deciding the winnability of a candidate,
whoever pays more is most likely to win, if not all. It has become a general rule that without
distributing money, one can’t consider winning an election. Everyone should have the ability to
distribute money. It has left the voters disillusioned with the election process. There are lots of
issues like the repeal of AFSPA, huge unemployment, lack of infrastructure and proper roads and
Covid-induced economic distress, but all these get buried under the influence of money and
muscle power.

Conclusion

The Legislative assembly election of Manipur to be held in two phases will decide the fate of 60
seats that will represent 3 million people of the state. Some will get re-elected to the Assembly
while new leaders will emerge to fill the vacuum left by defeated MLAs. The wind of change can
be seen in the mood of the voters of Kshetrigao Assembly, the hope of better future seem to have
lighten up the mood of the voters. The anti-incumbency factor is also going to play a huge role in
the outcome of the election. The disenchantment with the previous MLAs due to lack of
development in the constituency may influence the voting behavior while it is up to other
candidates to tap on the voters dissatisfaction in their favour. In this regard, Noorul Hasan seem a
step ahead of others in capitalizing on the simmering anger the voters by promising a score of
developmental projects from proper roads to proper tap drinking water to all household that
comes under the constituency etc,. He has set the tone of election campaign by completely
focusing on development and harmony. Odds are against him as Kshetrigao constituency is
mainly populated by Meitei community. However this has never stopped Muslim candidates
from contesting and winning before. The sitting BJP MLA Indrajit Singh is accused of
neglecting the Muslim populated areas and he is seldom seen in Muslim populated areas for
campaigning in run up to the election as he is banking on the numerical superiority of the Meitei.
History has proved such assumptions wrong in the past. He will need to work harder on his
strategy to bring Muslim voters into his fold. Despite all its defects and lack of development
Kshetrigao has always remained a bright spot in the map of harmony and unity. Other candidates
may also prove a surprised package and race ahead to cross the margin. Will the voters of
Kshetrigao choose development over same old status quo? We will get to know when the result
of the election is announced on 10th of March.
References:

1. https://www.news18.com/assembly-elections-2022/manipur/kshetrigao-election-
result-s14a004/
2. https://www.oneindia.com/khetrigao-assembly-elections-mn-4/
3. http://e-pao.net/GP.asp?src=19..260122.jan22
4. https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2022/feb/27/jd-u-candidate-wahengbam-
rohit-singh-shot-at-injured-in-manipur-2424363.html
5. Chapter 3: Electoral Politics, Civics, Class XI, CBSE
6. https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/politics/story/heres-how-social-media-digital-
campaigns-are-shaping-2022-state-elections-318648-2022-01-11
7. Internet and electoral campaigns: Study on the use of internet in electoral campaigns,
Council of Europe study, DGI(2017)11
8. https://scroll.in/article/1017963/why-is-manipur-seeing-a-bout-of-political-violence-
this-election-season
9. https://www.eastmojo.com/manipur/2021/12/24/manipur-pre-poll-violence-curfew-
clamped-at-heirok-village/
10. http://e-pao.net/GP.asp?src=21..210222.feb22
11. https://ceomanipur.nic.in/Affidavits/AssemblyElection/ge_2022