District status to Sadar Hills and Jiribam. The demands and the opposition to these demands. The three Bills passed by the Assembly on August 31 last year. The demand that a regulation be set in place to check the large scale influx of non-local people into the State and the strong voice of opposition raised against the three Bills with the bodies of nine people killed at Churachandpur last year still lying in state. These are some of the key issues which will definitely impact on the upcoming Assembly election, scheduled to be
held
in the early part of next year. Not very sure how far the decision to demonetise the Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes will impact on the upcoming Assembly polls, but surely this will have an effect on the voting pattern of the people. Apart from the demonetisation move, it is the Congress party which is at the centre of all the other issues. Natural it is, for it is the party in power here and to be sure all the blame or otherwise of these issues will be laid squarely at the feet of the Congress party. Another issue which will influence the voting pattern of the people is obviously the Framework Agreement signed between the NSCN (IM) and the Government of India last year. The irony is while it is the BJP which signed the Framework Agreement with the NSCN (IM), the divide over this pact will surely affect the Congress compounded by the fact that all Naga Congress MLAs stand ex-communicated.
Unfortunate it is, but these are the issues which will impact on the voting pattern of the people leaving other agenda such as development, education, employment etc out in the cold. Not to forget political stability. Yes, it is true that political stability was ensured only after the BJP Government under Atal Behari Vajpayee passed the stringent anti-defection Bill . A point which will undoubtedly be played to the hilt when the election fever hots up. Too early to say which way the wind will blow, but as things stand today, it will be a fight between the Congress and the BJP. To the BJP the stake is high in the sense that it will be looking to make inroads into the North East region, especially after pocketing Assam. To the Congress, it will be a fight to stop the Modi juggernaut, witnessed in the Assembly elections in some States, after the BJP swept the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The agenda before the people should be clear. What is it that they want from the next Government ? A good time for the Congress to sit back and think how it should sell itself to the people. The 2017 election will be far removed from the 2012 Assembly election and this is a point which the Congress cannot afford to overlook. To the people, things cannot be better, for there is a choice they can make. Maybe something which was not there when the State went to polls in 2012.
Source: Sangai Express
