Career politicians, ‘social workers’ and former bureaucrats dominate Nagaland’s election fray

February 20, 2023 31 Views No Comment

Morung Express News
Dimapur | February 20

What could be better for the state’s future than a group of people who have already had their chance to run things and now want another go at it? Given their professions, a majority of the candidates fighting the upcoming Nagaland Assembly Elections, have had their roles to play in their previous tenures as either legislators or policy implementers within the government, or as people who have worked for their communities and the marginalised.

Or at least that’s what this year’s election candidates have touted themselves as in their election affidavits.

In a few days, on February 27, Nagaland will hold elections for its state assembly. People in the State will have the opportunity to choose from a wide array of candidates, which include 81 career politicians, 53 social workers, and 25 retired bureaucrats or government servants.

The elections will be contested by a total of 183 candidates from various professions and educational backgrounds.

According to the affidavits submitted by the candidates to the Returning Officers of their respective Assembly Constituencies, the majority of the candidates, 81 in number, are career politicians. This is not surprising, given that many politicians tend to run for multiple elections over the course of their careers.

Social workers are the next largest group of candidates, with 53 individuals in the fray. The candidates did not have to specify in their affidavits what their ‘social works’ entail. Many prominent politicians and public leaders have also listed their profession as ‘social workers.’

Retired government servants are the third largest group of candidates. 25 bureaucrats and other retired government employees fall into this category. This trend is also not new, as many retired bureaucrats and civil servants tend to enter politics after their retirement.

People engaged in business and entrepreneurship constitutes 17 of the candidates, the fourth highest profession category among candidates for this election. Here as well, several veteran politicians cited business as one of their professions.

The remaining candidates are spread across a diverse set of professions. There are 5 doctors, 2 advocates, 3 educationists and academics, 7 agriculturalists, 1 retired judge, and 2 architects.

Several of the candidates’ professions overlapped as well since they cited more than one vocation in their affidavits. For instance, a majority of the candidates who tagged themselves as career politicians also described themselves as ‘social workers.’

Degrees in the humanities dominate
Moving on to the educational qualifications of the candidates, the majority of them have a Bachelor’s degree, especially in the humanities.

Out of the 183 candidates, 56 have a BA degree and 24 have an MA degree. In the sciences, 8 candidates have B Sc degrees while 3 of them have acquired M Sc degrees. In commerce, 2 have B Com degrees while 2 candidates have Bachelor of Architecture degrees.

It is interesting to note that while many of the candidates have a Bachelor’s degree, only a few have pursued higher education. There is only one candidate with a PhD, two with an MBBS degree, one with a Master of Surgery degree, and two with a BDS degree.

12 candidates have not done passed their matriculation. Of these, 1 candidate has studied till Class IV, 4 candidates each have studied till Classes VIII and IX, and 1 candidate has studied till Class X. 10 candidates have earmarked their highest qualification as matriculates. 12 candidates have studied till their PU.

11 candidates meanwhile have law degrees, which include 10 with LLBs and 1 with an LLM degree. There are also a few candidates with vocational degrees, such as a Diploma at 5.

There are three candidates with a degree in Divinity. The largest numbers of candidates with technical degrees are those with B Tech degrees, followed by those with Bachelor of Engineering (BE) degrees. They include 3 with B Tech degrees and 7 with BE degrees.