Manipur CM urges voters not to accept bribes

Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on Monday appealed to the voters in the state not to accept money from candidates during elections -- if they wanted to stop post-election bribery.

He was addressing a public meeting in his Heingang constituency in Imphal West district.

Voters take money from all candidates and some of the candidates, when they become ministers, demand bribes while making appointments, he said.

"If the people stop taking bribes from all candidates, ministers will also stop taking hush money at the time of appointments," he said.

The phenomenon of cash-for-jobs scams has existed for a long time, he said.

"My government is taking concrete steps to ensure that candidates do not have to grease official palms. We seek cooperation from all sections of people in this campaign."

During his interaction with members of the public, many persons requested him to help them recover the money they had paid to officials to get jobs.

They complained that they were not given the promised jobs and their money was also not refunded.

The Chief Minister said people should stop bribing senior officials since the government's policy was to appoint the best candidates.

--IANS

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