Run up to Nagaland Assembly polls Ruling NPF, BJP to contest, 8 tribes reject boycott call
Source: The Sangai Express / Courtesy - TNN

Guwahati, February 01 2018: The ruling alliance, comprising the Naga Peoples Front and BJP, have decided to contest the Assembly election, in a reversal of its earlier declaration to boycott the polls in response to a call given by an umbrella group of tribal bodies and civil organizations, which wants solution to the 20-year-old Naga peace process before the poll process.

A dawn-to-dusk State bandh call given the umbrella group, Core Committee of Nagaland Tribal Hohos and Civil Organisations (CCNTHCO), in protest against the elections on Thursday fell flat as eight major tribes withdrew their support to the bandh and the poll boycott call. The NPF said that it will announce its list of candidates for 58 of the 60 seats on Friday, while the BJP is likely to release its list Thursday.

The election to the 60-Assembly seats will be held on February 27 .

The NPF, BJP and JD (U), which have been partners of the ruling alliance, Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) for 15 years now, have always been contesting election without any pre-poll agreement on seat sharing.

"We will announce the names of our candidates tomorrow.

BJP has requested us to leave the two seats of Northern Angami 2 and Tizit and so we will be contesting from the rest 58 seats," an NPF spokesman said.

BJP State president Visasolie Lhoungu will be contesting from Northern Angami 2, while sitting BJP legislator P Paiwang Konyak will contest from Tizit.

The newly formed Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) said that if others step into the election process, it would also follow suit.

"We are likely to contest in about 40 seats," NDPP working president Alemtemshi Jamir said.

The bandh has had little or no impact in the entire State.

Government officials said that shops remained closed in the State's commercial capital of Dimapur in the morning hours but they opened after a few hours.

The organizations which decided against imposing the bandh include Eastern Nagaland Peoples' Organisation (ENPO), Angami Public Organisation (APO) and Lotha Hoho.

The ENPO constitutes six tribes Konyak, Chang, Sangtam, Yinchunger, Kiamngan and Phom.

Theja Therieh, convenor of the umbrella group, said that the electorate is divided over the solution before the election demand.

"The people at the grass root do not understand the politics behind all these push for election before the solution�there is a division among the electorate.

"The very purpose of this bandh is in pursuance of the resolutions adopted collectively by Tribal Hohos, mass based organizations and all political parties that Nagas prefer to have solution first rather than election now," he said.

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