Legal opinion and election officials are not yet very sure whether the rebel Garo National Liberation army (GNLA) chairman Champion R Sangma would be allowed or barred from contesting the ensuing elections to the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly. Though his lawyer. Sujit Dey has said Champion would be able to do so by citing example that there are hundreds of accused people across the country who are members of Parliament and also state assemblies.
The GNLA chief was arrested by the police who has charge-sheeted him under section212 (A) for attempting to wage war against the Government of India. Election Commissioner of India HS Brahma had stressed on the overall cleansing of the election system in the country and that India can become a mature democratic country only when it is able to bar criminals from contesting elections.
Champion has declared that he would not only contest the 2013 election but his cadres who are now in their hideouts would come out to openly support the Congress party. This announcement is certainly a bolt from the blue, which has stunned the political circles and the people. The BJP general secretary Bipayan Chakraborty said that “It clearly indicate that there is something behind the scene. The United democratic party (UDP) sharply reacted when the Secretary Shillong city unit AF Dkhar said “The cat is out of the bag and it is free for all to see” while the newly formed National Peoples Party leader Conrad express his surprise as he said “ he had never heard of such a thing before.”
Members of the “Clean Politics” campaign headed by Ardent Basaiawmoit should be taken aback by this declaration and announcement made by Champion, as the people in general are caught in a web of confusing as to whom to elect in an election that is few months away. As it is the GNLA is a banned outfit and the Congress party will have to do lot of explaining during the election about its connection with the banned outfit.
The Congress would therefore need absolute charisma to convince the electorates of its “clean credential’ and be the Champion at the hustings without any extraneous tag or label.- By Sumar Sing Sawian
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