IMPHAL, Oct 18: A People’s Campaign for Assembly Election 2012: Deciding Our Destiny was formally launched today in many states of India. The launching was marked by an oath taking ceremony of the members amongst others in Imphal, Delhi, Chennai, Jalandhar and Chandigarh.
According to a statement of the campaign convener, Manipur Chapter, the People’s Campaign for Assembly Election 2012: Deciding Our Destiny aims for an election based on issues and accountable political leadership. It is not for any particular political party or individual candidate. The campaign is an initiative to make the people of Manipur aware of the significance of election and issues of public concerns and the relationship between the two.
This is a peoples’ initiative to change Manipur for better.
Students, professionals, artists, filmmakers etc came together to make this campaign possible with the belief that this is the opportunity to make our “representatives” accountable for the nature of our collective life that we have in Manipur. This campaign is a clear example of the power of social networking in bringing political and social changes. This campaign which began as a Facebook community is now endorsed by members from various states of India, the statement added.
“The day, October 18, is significant in the sense that it is the 63rd anniversary of the inauguration of the first ever Legislative Assembly in South Asia, and perhaps in the entire South East Asia, which was constituted under an election based on universal adult franchise in 1948 paving the foundation of a democratic polity in our life and draw our inspirations thereof”, it stated.
The aims and objectives of the People’s Campaign is to make the political class accountable to the people; to deliberate, develop and disseminate informed and purposeful understanding on issues of public importance in the light of the forthcoming Assembly Elections in Manipur 2012; to organize mass contact programme with the citizenry in order to deepen public consciousness and awareness on pressing issues of public importance in the light of the forthcoming 10th Assembly Elections in Manipur, 2012; to ensure that electoral malpractices are confronted and made accountable to the laws of the land before, during and after the elections, etc, it ended.
