Voices on issues during the current electioneering

Public in Nagaland are overwhelmingly in favour of Clean Election and would have voted overwhelmingly for it (Clean Election) but only if the choice were not hijacked by money and muscle power.
In fact, Clean Election came ahead of another need to secure solution to the Naga political issue. These were the two most common issues spoken by people when Nagaland Post asked them for their opinions during the past few days in the run up to the February 27 poll.
One college student of a well-known college in Dimapur, said he was in favour of clean election where money or muscle power were not allowed to hijack the will of the people.
He said that since Nagaland is a majority Christian state, it was only expected that Clean Election ought to have been the standard practice since everyone today is totally fed up of the role money and muscle power playing havoc with the election system in the state for decades,
Asked on whether solution to Naga political issue was crucial, he said though the Centre and the state preferred to keep it in abeyance over political interest, yet people will not remain quiet after the new government takes office.
He said people especially the ordinary daily wage earners were confused about the intention of the Modi government at the Centre and the Rio-led government in the state about the issue, he said it was time that the exact status of the final negotiations should be made known since keeping it under a veil of secrecy was questionable.
On whether the Church has done anything much with regard to implementing Clean Election, another female student said the objective would be achieved if all youths were made aware about it. She said the issue of Clean Election has been talked about and discussed for nearly ten years and therefore, there should be a great deal of awareness today.
Due to the high level of awareness about Clean Election, today elections have become slightly less inclined to cash and guns as in the past though a lot remains to be desired.
On whether the four female candidates in the fray would win the election, she said it would be the finest achievement in the state’s political history even if a single woman candidate won. She said all her friends are hoping that all four women candidates will make it to the assembly in order to bring changes to society. She acknowledged that young women were putting on more efforts to bring a positive change in society.
Another professional working in a public sector bank when asked if the political parties can reshape the budget to focus on cutting down unnecessary expenditure while aiming to invest more in revenue earning projects such as PPP model for local entrepreneurs, his answer was that Nagaland needed a full-time finance minister to get down to serious work.
The bank employee said the government could also think of professionalising its cooperative bank since the bank can be a unique model of banking in the region that is sensitive to the needs of people.
A free lance journalist when asked about the likely outcome of the election replied wittingly that though people speak of change yet they “may vote for the same change” since there is no optional change. He however added it would only be proved after March 2, when counting is complete.