Borah forays into North-East’s tough political terrains: Nagaland, Tripura and Mizoram

A Poster Issued by Nagaland's State Electoral Office

LAST week, Nagaland’s 51-Noksen assembly constituency scripted history when Election Commission experimented with what it called “Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail” (VVPAT) system in the bye-election of that constituency. AICC secretary Bhupen Borah, who was sent by the Congress headquarters to campaign for the Congress candidate Liman Onen Chang, congratulated the EC for its new venture. Borah had accompanied his senior and AICC general secretary Luizinho Faleiro. Borah, however, in his characteristic style of raising questions, pointed out how…
the ruling NPF candidate used the loopholes of our democratic system and fought the assembly elections twice in six months and retained his MP’s seat as well! Lok Sabha MP and NPF-led DAN candidate CM Chang defeated Congress candidate Liman Onen Chang with a margin of 2863 votes. But Borah in his twitter (https://twitter.com/bhupenkborah) raised the following three questions after he had campaigned for the Congress candidate at Noksen.
First, Borah tweeted: “Visited Noksen of Nagaland. If NPF candidate CM Chang wins by-poll, there won't be an MP from Nagaland till May 2014. Mockery of the system!”
Second, “I would like to ask honourable MP from Nagaland CM Chang how come he was busy for assembly bye-poll when Lok Sabha took up Food Security Bill?”
Third, “How come the lone MP from Nagaland Mr CM Chang (of NPF) fight assembly poll twice in 6 months? Who represents people of Nagaland at the Centre?”
The questions were raised, as the Nagaland’s lone MP first fought the assembly election to become a minister in the state, but did not relinquish his MP’s seat. After nearly six months, he opted for fighting the assembly polls once more so as to avoid contesting the Parliamentary poll which would have involved the electorates of the entire state of Nagaland. But in the process, it has come to a situation in which Nagaland virtually does not have anyone in New Delhi to represent the state. Who was in Lok Sabha from Nagaland when the House took up all important legislation including food security and land acquisition bills? Is not it a valid question? The Congress may lose the battle in Noksen, but it has certainly won the war in Nagaland. The message that Nagaland’s ruling party made a “mockery of the system”, has been effectively delivered to the state’s electorates.
In less than three months after Borah was appointed as AICC secretary, he had visited another NE state, Mizoram four times. From the political point of view, the state is important as it’s going for assembly polls later this year. On Saturday, Borah tweeted: “Participated at a strategy meet at Mizoram CM's residence in Aizwal today. Confident that Congress will get a bigger mandate this time”.
Meanwhile, Borah has recently visited Tripura where he is trying to rejuvenate the Congress cadre and making an all-out effort to dismantle the Communist hegemony in the state.