IMPHAL, October 19: The Manipur People`™s Party observed during the Hiyanglam by-poll that there is a direct correlation between the amount of money spent by a party and its chances of winning the by-poll, party president Nongmeikapam Sovakiran told media persons.
Speaking in a press meet at the party`™s office today, he said it was of the firm belief of the party that the people of Hiyanglam constituency have faith in regionalism.
However, money power and muscle power managed to influence the people of the constituency during the recent by-poll, he lamented.
He said it is sad that a person stealing a small item is perceived a thief and a criminal, while those who loot the State exchequer in terms of millions are considered leaders.
Alleging the Congress of distributing money to Hiyanglam voters, Sovakiran alleged that the loots from the State exchequer were used by the Congress MLAs and ministers to lure the voters of Hiyanglam.
At the same time, national projects and other important schemes undertaken in the State remained incomplete and neglected for long periods due to lack of fund which have been already siphoned off, he berated.
In such a situation, the future of the State is dim, he expressed concern.
Coming back to the Hiyanglam by-poll, he said the Congress split up the 34 polling stations in the constituency among its 47 MLAs.
There were also stations which were under the watch of two MLAs during the entire by-poll process, he claimed.
If the government was foresighted and considerate enough to divide the entire length of the National Highway 37 for repairing among the 47 MLAs the way it did the Hiyanglam polling stations, the condition of the highway would have been much better, he said.
The entire length of the highway is just about 225 km and if it is divided among the 47 MLAs, each will get only about 4-5 km highway stretch for maintenance, he said.
But unfortunately, the government is not that farsighted, he claimed before adding that it was more interested in the Hiyanglam by-poll rather than get involved with such projects.
Sovakiran also observed that his party had some weaknesses going into the Hiyanglam by-poll.
He regretted his inability to bring the senior leaders of the party to campaign for the by-poll.
Now, that the weaknesses of the party have been ascertained, MPP is hoping to look ahead and bounce back strongly with a vision for the 2017 general election, he said.
Party vice president Ojit said it is unfortunate that the culture of corruption and buying votes during elections is still prevalent, despite of the ECI`™s efforts and strong guidelines for the conduct of a free and fair election.
He further condemned the reported racial attacks on people of the region in other States of the country and urged the Chief Ministers of the region to pressure the Centre to intervene.