Nagaland has decided: Verdict today

March 2, 2023 16 Views No Comment

• Counting starts at 8:00 AM
• All eyes on whether Rio returns to power for 5th time

Morung Express News
Dimapur | March 2

Will Nagaland elect its first-ever woman legislator? Will Neiphiu Rio make history and returned for his fifth inning as the Chief Minister? Will the ruling alliance retain power or other players upset the apple cart? Is another opposition-less Government on card?

These are some of the many questions that would be striking the voters as well as general observers as counting of votes begin on Thursday for the recently concluded general elections to the 14th Nagaland Legislative Assembly.

The elections held on February 27, according to overall assessment of the State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), was “alright” barring some incidents, with the initial estimate 83.36% voter turnout across the State.

Counting of votes for the election to the 14th NLA will begin at 8AM in all the 16 election districts in 16 counting centres, stated an official release.

Result trends will be displayed and can be viewed on https://results.eci.gov.in/ or on Voter Helpline Mobile App of the Election Commission of India, it added.

Later addressing a press conference in Kohima, Nagaland Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) V Shashank Shekhar stated that postal ballots would be counted first and after 30 minutes, counting of votes in the EVM shall start in all AC counting halls.

Three-tier security measures involving the State Police, State Armed Police and Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) are in place at the counting centres, he added.

The 1st tier (outer) cordon will be pedestrian zone, 2nd tier (middle) at the gate of counting premise and 3rd tier (innermost) will be at the door of counting hall.

All the 59 ACs will be counted in separate room (33 ACs in pre-constructed separate room and 26 ACs will be accommodated in big hall with partitioned for each AC), according to the CEO office.

To ensure greater transparency, one of the counting tables in the counting hall will be VVPAT Counting Booth (VCB) for counting of Voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) Paper slips of randomly selected 5 polling stations per AC and matched with EVMs.

The counting of VVPAT paper slips will be done under CCTV coverage, the CEO office informed.

All the 59 AC will be monitored independently by 59 Counting Observer of the Commission.

Final briefing-cum- trainings for the polling personnel assigned for ballot counting were held across the State on March 1.

Meanwhile, despite the CEO’s conservative assertion, several incidents of pre and post-poll violence have been reported across the State, while there were allegations of rampant proxy voting by some political parties as well as reports by news outlets. Accordingly voting percentage was over 83%.

Re-polls were held on March 1 at 4 polling were stations spread across four Assembly Constituencies in Nagaland.

As stated, all eyes will be on Rio, who if successful, will create history by possibly returning as the Chief Minister for the 5th time, since his first tenure from 2003–08. He has more or less dominated the state political landscape for two decades since then.

The ruling alliance of Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will also be looking to return to power with more mandates.

With most exit polls predicting its win, the alliance is confident of retaining power.

However, the apple cart could be upset by number of players including 19 independents, most of whom were aspirants or members of the ruling alliance.

The possibility of an opposition will also be decided depending on the performance of the Congress, who fielded 22 candidates, as well as more upsets in the ruling alliance.

However, a clear picture would emerge only at around noon of March 2.

More importantly, focus would be on the performance of four women candidates, aspiring to enter the 14th NLA and create history as the first women to be elected in Nagaland.

The four women candidates are Hekhani Jakhalu of NDPP in Dimapur-III seat, Rosy Thompson of Congress in Tening seat, Salhoutuonuo Kruse of NDPP in Western Angami seat and Kahuli Sema of BJP in Atoizu.

Since their first participation in 1969, a total of 21 women candidates have stood for Assembly elections in Nagaland, without success. In 2023, with 4 women among 183 candidates in the fray for 59 seats, the number has risen to 25.

One BJP candidate has already been declared elected unopposed.