Volunteers to keep hawk eye on 1,200 poll booths

AIZAWL: Thousands of volunteers of Mizoram People Forum (MPF), which consists of two powerful NGOs - Young Mizo Association (YMA) and Mizoram Hmeichhe Insuikhaom Pawl (MHIP) - along with other NGOs and church denominations, will keep a hawk eye over 1,200 polling stations to ensure that no malpractice takes place and the polls conclude in a peaceful manner.

Malsawmliana, secretary of MPF and general secretary of YMA, said the Association has 820 branches across the state and people from all quarters, including NGOs and church denominations are members of the Forum.

"Since its inception in 2006, the MPF has been making efforts continuously to conduct elections in the state in a free and fair manner. The first election was in 2008, after the inception of the MPF. The Forum always comes with an agreement with the political parties on certain conditions like on campaign and election expenditure etc and every political party obeys the agreement. Hence, elections, including local elections, assembly and even parliamentary elections, are being conducted in Mizoram in a very peaceful manner," he added.

Malsawmliana said Mizoram practises a healthy election environment, which probably cannot be seen in any other part of the country. "Political parties, church denominations, NGOs, police, administration - everyone coordinate and cooperate with each other so that the election can be conducted in a healthy way," he added.

The MPF volunteers are not associated with any political parties and are restricted from asking or receiving money from political parties and the candidates. The secretary said no political party is allowed to go for door-to-door campaigns from the date of election notification as such campaigns provide an opportunity for "corrupt practices".

Instead of that, MPF makes a common platform for all candidates to deliver speeches at a specified time and place. "During the campaign time, if a political party wants to hold a public or street-corner meeting, the meeting must be chaired by MPF. Without the knowledge of MPF and presence of the MPF authority, no political party can arrange such meetings. These are some disciplines which have been followed since 2008 and everyone including the political parties obey," he added.