Guns still seem to do most of the talking in the battle of the ballots in India's Northeast. Come electiontime, the separatist rebel armies in this troubled frontier region jump into the murky world of electoralpolitics, backing or opposing particular candidates and political parties. Armed to the teeth, insurgentcadres roam about the countryside, mostly in the deep interiors, coercing voters or threatening andintimidating candidates. Their objective: to ensure that candidates of their choice win through, or at leastthat a government sympathetic to their rivals does not get elected. This is, indeed, ironic since theseseparatist rebel groups 'reject' the Indian Constitution and, consequently, claim that they do not 'recognize'elections held under the country's constitutional provisions.