Voting For Local Body Elections Held in Nagaland After 20 Years

• By Thetripurapost Desk, Kohima
• Jun 26, 2024
• 203

Voting for local body elections held in  Nagaland on Wednesday, June 26, after nearly 20 years. 

But this is nothing new. The new thing is that for the first time in this election, provision has been made for 33 percent reservation for women. 

Due to strong opposition from local tribal organizations and large-scale violence on the issue of women reservation, these elections could not be held for twenty years. Later, due to the signature and strict stand of the Supreme Court, the state government had to pass the Women Reservation Bill. 

This election is being held under the supervision of the Supreme Court.

However, even now the most powerful Naga organization of the state, Eastern Naga People's Organization (ENPO) has appealed to boycott this election. But this time the participation of women has increased a lot. 

They have appealed to the people of the six eastern districts of the state not to participate in this election. It is relevant to mention here that in the recent Lok Sabha elections, not even a single vote was cast in the six eastern districts due to the appeal of the local organizations. 

The impact of the organization can be understood from this.

The Election Commissioner said that a total of 523 candidates are in the fray in this election. Earlier, a total of 670 candidates had filed nominations. But 79 of them withdrew their names and the nomination papers of four were rejected due to incompleteness. Even before the voting, 64 candidates have been elected unopposed. 

Among these, the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) has the highest number of 45 candidates. Apart from this, there are seven candidates from BJP, five from Nationalist Congress Party (BJP), three from Congress, two from Naga People's Front and two independents.

Out of the total 418 seats in 39 municipalities and city councils in the state, 112 seats are reserved for women. Kohima, Dimapur and Mokokchung have municipal councils and the rest have municipal councils.

Security arrangements have been tightened to ensure fair and peaceful voting. For the first time in any election here, the responsibility of security has been given to the state police. 

According to the Election Commission, out of the 530 polling stations in the state, 92 are general, 209 are sensitive and the rest are extremely sensitive.

There has been a lot of violence in the state over this issue during the last two decades. In the year 2017, at least two people were killed in the violence over this issue and there was large-scale vandalism and arson. 

After that the elections were postponed. Due to the protest of tribal organizations, then Chief Minister TR Zeliang also had to resign from his post.

Voting for urban body elections was to be held on February 1 in the state that year. On this occasion, the Naga People's Front (NPF) government led by TR Zeliang, in which BJP was also a partner, approved 33 percent reservation for women. But various Naga organizations started opposing it on a large scale.
 
On the other hand, the women's organization Naga Mothers Association also remained adamant on the demand for reservation citing the Supreme Court's decision. The conflict started on this issue. The situation became so uncontrollable that the army had to be deployed in the state and two people died in the violence. Ultimately the governor cancelled these elections.

In fact, in 2012, the Naga Mothers Association had filed a petition in the Supreme Court appealing the court to direct the state government to provide 33 percent reservation to women in urban bodies.

After a two-year long hearing, the Supreme Court ruled in its favour in April last year. After this, respecting the decision of the Supreme Court, the government decided to hold elections for these elections. After that, 33 percent reservation for women got the green signal from the cabinet.

Political observers say that Nagaland is the first state in the Northeast where the provision of 33 percent reservation for women has been implemented in any election. Political parties in the state have often been accused of ignoring women. But now this election can set a new example