Clean Election
The Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) continues its Clean Election Movement (CEM) with this state elections. NBCC first conceived the campaign in 1973 in time for the 1974 Nagaland Legislative Assembly election. Its aim was to prevent people from selling their votes or accepting bribe. Ever since, the campaign has gained momentum into a church-facilitated movement. However, NBCC leaders acknowledge that there has not been 'elaborate visible progress, but it is gaining ground slowly.' For the 2023 state elections, NBCC launched the campaign through its 20 affiliated and 4 associate church associations mid-2021. This year, CEM is part of the church's celebrations of 150 years of Christianity in Nagaland. [41] The Chakhesang Clean Election Movement launched by the tribe's Baptist church council went further to declare that church workers who wish to involve in the election campaign must resign first and abstain from church-related ministry for a period of five years. [42]
In October 2022, CEM issued a statement registering their protest over the declaration of a consensus candidate from Chungtia village in Mokokchung district accompanied with punitive and dismissive repercussions. They were clear that a consensus candidate through the diktat of the village council is an electoral malpractice and against the Election Code of Conduct. CEM also condemned possible declarations by other village councils or groups and called the church to be more vigilant against these practices. [43] However, the condemnation came in rather late as the consensus candidate (B Toshikaba Longchar) [44] was declared by the Chungtia Senso Mungdang (Chungtia Citizens Forum) on 28 December 2021 followed by the notification from the Chungtia Village Council (CVC) warning the villagers of a penalty of seven pigs for not following the diktat. A Writ petition filed at the Kohima Bench of the Gauhati High Court challenging the village resolution was first listed for hearing on 27 October 2022. [45] T. Chalukumba Ao, a resident of the village, had approached the court challenging the resolution and consequential notice. [44] Similarly, the Bench has admitted the case against the consensus candidate flouted by the Mongsenyimti Riongsanger Putu Menden (Mongsenyimti Riongsanger Village Council) and their resolutions in December 2021, June 2022, and October 2022. [45] Consequent to the case regarding the village's consensus candidate, the Chungtia Senso Mungdang withdrew its resolution and the Chungtia Village Council withdrew its penalty of seven pigs on detractors. [44]
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