Nagaland assembly election: The Election Commission has asked youth to seek a clean election
In poll-bound Nagaland, where allegations of induced voting or the purchase of votes is common, the Election Commission has been forced to think of innovative ways to fight the malpractice. One of them is the 'Clean Election Anthem' called
Sapna Dangoor Ekta Asey. And it's a hit. It has got over one lakh views in the last couple of weeks that it has been up on the Election Commission's website.
Other short films also part of the Clean Election campaign show the dark side of the Nagaland assembly election, which the EC is hoping the anthem will fix. In a film called
Firm, a man is offered wads of cash and told that none of his family members need to go to vote. He takes the money but then returns it.
"I can't accept the money," he says. "Why not," asks the party worker offering it.
"We will cast our own votes," says the man. "We are taking part in the Clean Election pledge and we stand by it, firmly."
Abhijit Sinha, Chief Election Officer of Nagaland, says, "In earlier elections, there were so many complaints of people getting induced to vote with cash, liquor or some other type to vote for a particular candidate, we had to do something."
The catchy content of the Clean Election videos were created by two young Dimapur-based brothers, Tiakumzuk Aier and MT Akum Aier, who make films under the banner Dreamz Unlimited.
In July, their film
Nana was a huge hit in Nagaland and later won critical acclaim at Edinburgh.
Their short film
Swachh Sankalp Se Swachh Siddhi, which competed for an award on the Swachh Bharat theme, won a government prize.
"Everyone has got access to the Internet these days, so it makes sense to use the power of the Internet to spread awareness about clean elections," said Mr Akum Aier, who shot and edited the films.
"It's hard to educate people through direct speech because we all have very short memories. But if it's a song, we learn the lyrics easily and it stays in our head for a very long time. I hope the lyrics keep on looping in everybody's head reminding them of clean elections," he added.
The brothers use satire and humour. Laughter is a great teacher, said Tia Aier, director. The main target of the Clean Election campaign is the youth and the campaign is also backed by the church.
A first-time college-going voter said, "The government is off the people, it buys the people and far away from the people. That is the reality of Nagaland," he said. "I hope this time with the Clean Election campaign, things change."