Another litmus test

As the April 9 by-election for the 28 Koridang Assembly constituency approaches, the spotlight returns to the Church. The seat fell vacant following the demise of five-time MLA Imkong L. Imchen. However, the real question is not who will win but whether the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) and the Ao Baptist Arogo Mungdang (ABAM) will finally move beyond rhetoric and enforce their long-standing Clean Election Campaign?. The issue of Clean Election is a long felt and urgent need. Mokokchung district has witnessed violent clashes between rival supporters during elections. On March 20, 2026, a curfew was imposed in Chungtia village to prevent physical confrontations. This shows that election in many places are fought like a war. The Clean Election Campaign was launched in 2012-fourteen years ago. There have been modest gains. The younger generation does show signs of embracing “one person, one vote.” Youth camps, pressure blocs funded by candidates, are reportedly in decline. On March 26, the NBCC and the Mokokchung District Administration held a joint programme and this is a welcome step, but is it enough? The uncomfortable truth is that the church’s influence is largely pulpit-based. It sets ethical standards from the altar, but once voters step out of the church building, money power takes over. Indeed, money power in state elections permeates and corrupts the very soul of democracy. Even if candidates win, they live in perpetual debt due to several crore rupees spent. Thus,sermons are ignored when cash changes hands. The Church preaches transformation, but it has no dedicated ground force-nothing comparable to the Young Mizo Association (YMA) in Mizoram, which physically disrupts malpractices and enforces discipline at polling booths. In Nagaland, the Church’s clean election movement remains a noble soul without a strong body. However the problem runs deeper. Village councils, which should be guardians of democratic integrity, are often the very bodies negotiating “package deals”- selling entire village votes to the highest bidder. Civil society organizations, fragmented and divided by local interests, fail to act as a unified checks-and-balances system. No one is monitoring village gates. No one is tracking candidate convoys. No one is enforcing the fine print of the Clean Election Campaign on the ground. Nagaland’s consistently high voter turnout-often exceeding 85 per cent-is frequently cited as a point of pride. However, critics rightly call it as evidence of proxy voting and collective bloc voting. High numbers do not signify civic virtue when they are the product of coercion and collusion. The Koridang by-election is a litmus test. If the NBCC and ABAM fail to translate their moral advocacy into tangible enforcement, then the clean election will remain exactly what it has been for fourteen years-an aspiration, not a reality. What is required is not another resolution. What is needed is a statewide civil society coalition with the discipline and authority to enforce ethical conduct. If various church associations and the NBCC unite as a single enforcement unit- monitoring, reporting, and publicly naming violators-then the electoral marketplace can finally become a genuine mandate. Until then, the leaders people deserve will continue to triumph over the leaders they want.