Reeling from a year of violent conflict, Manipur sees muted election campaign: Small ‘in-camera’ meetings, no rallies

The Meira Paibis of Imphal’s Chingamakha area begin their nightly vigil at a small “guard-post” at 9 pm. On Saturday, at around 9.40 pm, two women volunteers working for the Congress candidate from Inner Manipur Lok Sabha constituency joined them for 10 minutes.

“We’re going to different places tonight to meet some people who have good connections in their neighborhood, especially women, so that they can know our candidate better, and can get other people in the locality also talking (about the candidate),” said one of the volunteers.

After a short, quiet conversation with the Meira Paibis — the powerful Meitei women activists of Manipur — they move to their next stop.

In the uneasy air of Manipur, where continuing tensions have resulted in ambivalence over the electoral process, the election campaign is taking place in a muted way, and at a micro level.

In the Inner Manipur constituency, one of the state’s two seats and the one that covers most of the Meitei-majority valley region, there are six candidates in the fray.

Prominent faces among the candidates are state Cabinet minister and former IPS officer Thounaojam Basanta Singh of the BJP; academic and associate professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Bimol Akoijam, who is making his political debut as the Congress candidate; and Maheshwar Thounaojam of the Republican Party of India (A) and R K Somendra (Kaiku) from the Manipur People’s Party – both of whom were popular actors before becoming politicians.

However, there are no rallies, no public addresses, and almost no posters.

Following nearly a year of violent conflict in the state, public disapproval against open campaigning in the valley has been palpable, and was given concrete form through a diktat issued by armed