The much awaited list is out, albeit the first list of 32 candidates. Certainly there will be heart breaks and joyous celebrations, heart breaks for those who have not been included in the finalised list of the 32 candidates and similarly joy and celebration for those who have made it to the list. A clear reflection that the number of aspiring candidates seeking the BJP ticket was immense and the Central Election Committee of the BJP must have had a hard time in finalising the list. This is what politics is all about. However this is just the first hurdle for the real test will come when the voters actually press the button on the EVM. Not surprisingly a number of political pundits have started gathering at the local chai dhaba to discuss the list, and the prospect of each candidate named so far and while their prognosis may have nothing to do with the actual outcome of the election what is being said in the leikais and leiraks certainly reflect a degree of truth and come voting day and everything will be clear. All the candidates who have been finalised must also be aware that in election there is no silver medal. It is a case of the winner taking it all. So coming second will not count in the ultimate analysis and this bare fact must have registered in the minds of all the candidates and aspiring candidates of the BJP.
A look at the first finalised list will also reveal that the BJP certainly has a number of political heavy weights in the fray. True most of them are all from the Congress or other political parties, but the very fact that quite a number of them have left the ruling Congress party to join the BJP must be good news to the saffron party, which is looking to break the 15 years rule of the Congress in Manipur. Sweep the polls in Manipur after Assam will definitely be the slogan of all the BJP leaders and while the question of whether this will become a reality or not will be known only when the votes are actually counted, it is significant to note the rapid stride the BJP has made ever since the party swept the Lok Sabha election in 2014. Save for the hiccup at Delhi, the BJP has gone from strength to strength sweeping the polls held in other States and surely the State BJP leadership must be looking to follow this ‘trend’. Heavy weights in the first list of 32 candidates, but as observed here earlier, in election there will be no podium finish for the candidate who comes second. It is the winner all the way.
Source: The Sangai Express
