BJP-NDPP seat sharing agreement to be finalised in New Delhi: Sarma

January 16, 2023 34 Views No Comment

Morung Express News
Dimapur | January 16

Assam Chief Minister and the Convenor of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday indicated that the seat sharing agreement between the BJP and NDPP for the upcoming election in Nagaland is yet to be sorted out and would be finalised only next week in New Delhi.

A final agreement on seat sharing between BJP and NDPP Nagaland would be finalised in New Delhi on January 18-19, various media outlets quoted him as saying on Sunday.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) had entered into a pre-poll alliance ahead of the election to 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly in 2018 under a 40:20 seat sharing agreement and formed the government thereafter.

Meanwhile, when contacted for comment after Sarma’s statement was shared widely on various social media platforms, a source at the Nagaland State BJP implied while the 40:20 formula is intact, some issues regarding which seats to contest, remain.

‘We are already into the discussion on which seats to contest. There will always be some tussle in a seat sharing. It’s the way with politics,’ the source reasoned.

“But eventually we will settle.”

A member of the NDPP’s media team, meanwhile, told The Morung Express that he was not aware/authorised to discuss the latest development regarding the issue while calls and query to the NDPP President remained unanswered till the filing of the report.

It must be noted here that while there were various speculations, a Joint Statement of NDPP and the BJP on July 26, 2022 reaffirmed the alliance and informed that the two parties had agreed to continue the same with the seat sharing agreement of 40 seats for the NDPP and 20 for the BJP in the forthcoming assembly elections.

“There will be no friendly contest in any constituency. A core committee of NDPP and the BJP Members will formulate to decide the seats at an appropriate time to decide which seat each party will contest respectively,” the statement then maintained.

It is unclear whether Sarma was referring the timing to the two-day BJP National Executive meet scheduled in New Delhi from January 16-17.

According to the IANS news agency, among others, the meet will finalise party’s election strategies for 2023-24. The key agenda will be to chalk out a strategy for the poll-bound states and to determine the ways to take the achievements of the Modi government to the masses, it said.

Before the Lok Sabha elections to be held in 2024, assembly elections are to be held in 10 states and union territories including Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland, yMizoram and Jammu and Kashmir in 2023.

On January 12, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio also called on Sarma and the latter tweeted afterwards that they discussed “various issues of mutual interests. Deliberated on ways to expedite our mutual development and strengthen the bond of camaraderie between the two States”

While there are more calls for ‘Solution, not Election’ as well as the announcement by the Eastern Nagaland Peoples’ Organisation (ENPO) of not participating in elections unless their demand for a separate state is fulfilled, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has made it clear that ‘election will be delivered before the end of term of the current assembly.’

Addressing a press conference in Kohima on January 14, Chief Election Commissioner, Rajiv Kumar informed that the term of the current assembly is ending in March 12, 2023, and the Constitution clearly “provides and mandates that an elected government has to be in place before the end of the term of the assembly.”

“The ECI is mandated in the Constitution to conduct election, and the results declared, so that the duly elected government is in place, and we are duty bound to do that,” he added.