Nagaland ULBs Polls: 669 candidates file nomination

June 12, 2024 3 Views No Comment

Morung Express News
Dimapur/Kohima | June 12

A total of 699 aspiring candidates have filed nominations for the upcoming urban local bodies (ULBs) election scheduled across the State on June 26.

According to data provided by the State Election Commission (SEC), on the last day of filing nominations on June 11, 699 individuals, comprising 431 males and 238 females, had filed their nominations. The filing of nominations began on June 7.

The ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) led the nominations with 256 candidates, followed by Independents at 210. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the NDPP’s alliance partner in the current People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA) government in Nagaland, followed next with 62 candidates.

The Nagaland BJP had earlier announced that it would contest the civic polls only in wards of municipals and town councils where the party currently has a sitting legislator in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly.

Meanwhile, buoyed by its recent win in the lone Lok Sabha contest in Nagaland, the Indian National Congress (INC) has fielded 43 candidates in the upcoming elections, the third largest among parties, after NDPP and BJP.

However, the influence of former Nagaland-based regional supremo, Naga People’s Front (NPF), seems to be waning, with the party managing to file nominations for only 24 intending candidates.

While the State Assembly has an ‘opposition-less’ consensus government, such a mechanism is missing in the ULBs polls, with all the other supporting parties to the PDA fielding candidates and in the fray. The contest is led by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) with 30 candidates.

The NCP in Nagaland had earlier extended support to Ajit Pawar-led NCP. The Conrad Sangma-led National People’s Party (NPP) is another regional party in the fray with 21 intending candidates.

The Janata Dal United (JDU) Nagaland, meanwhile, is fielding 9 candidates, while the Republican Party of India (Athawale) has 7 candidates. A total of 6 candidates have filed nominations from the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), while the Rising People’s Party is fielding 1 candidate.

It must be noted that nominations of candidates are either limited or nil in six districts of Eastern Nagaland in response to a poll abstention call spearheaded by the Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO).

People in the ENPO areas had earlier ‘voluntarily’ abstained from taking part in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections in Nagaland in protest against non-fulfilment of the Frontier Nagaland Territory.

However, some individuals had broken ranks and had filed nominations in Shamator, Longleng, Kiphire, and Mon districts.

There were nil nominations from Tuensang and Noklak districts.

There were 51 intending candidates from those districts, according to SEC data. However, there is a possibility that the nominations might be withdrawn.

According to the Election schedule, list of valid nominations papers will be published on June 12, while June 13 is fixed for scrutiny of validly nominated candidates.
The last date for withdrawal of candidature has been set for June 20. The declaration of results is scheduled for June 29.

In Nagaland, there are three Municipal Councils – Kohima, Dimapur, and Mokokchung – and 36 Town Councils. The civic elections will be conducted with a 33% reservation for women after years of contention. Nagaland has a total of 418 wards spread over 39 ULBs, out of which 142 wards are reserved for women.

Some seat ‘unopposed’
Meanwhile, as nominations end, some candidates were considered elected unopposed pending final validation of nominations by the SEC.

There were four such candidates belonging to the NDPP in Mokokchung municipal council, including two women candidates.

The BJP Nagaland State, in a social media update, informed that its candidate in Ward No 5 of Dimapur Municipal Council as well as Ward No 1 and Ward No 9 under Niuland Town Council have been elected unopposed. This included one woman.