Stage set for triangular electoral fight for lone Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland
Source: Hueiyen News Service / Newmai News Network

Dimapur, March 23 2014: It is going to be a triangular fight in Nagaland in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.

Congress, Naga People's Front (NPF) and Socialist Party of India will vie for the lone Lok Sabha seat with no other parties or Independent candidates filing their nomination papers on the last day to do so on Saturday.

Yesterday, Akhie Achumi of Socialist Party of India filed his nomination paper.

However, Chief minister Neiphiu Rio of Naga People's Front (NPF) and former Nagaland minister KV Pusa of the Congress party are considered the strong contenders for the lone Nagaland Lok Sabha seat.

Both Rio and Pusa are one time blue-eye boys of SC Jamir in the 1990s during the hey-days of the Congress party in Nagaland.

Today, they are locking horn vying for the lone Lok Sabha seat standing on different political parties and ideologies.

Nagaland goes to the polls on April 9 .

Interestingly, both KV Pusa and Neiphiu Rio were senior cabinet ministers in the SC Jamir led Congress ministry in Nagaland.

Pusa lost in the Nagaland assembly polls of 2013.Both Rio and Pusa belong to the Angami tribe.

Vote-planks for both the NPF and the Congress party are the Naga political issue, the Eastern Nagaland People's Organisation (ENPO) issue (demand of a separate state), the economic development of rural Nagaland and of course peace in Nagaland.

Both Pusa and Rio have their shares of advantages and otherwise.

Being from the party which is in its peak of popularity in Nagaland, Rio is confident of harvesting votes through this perspective.

Another advantage for Rio is the imminent coming back of NDA at the Centre.

NPF is an alliance of the BJP led NDA.

In Nagaland, Rio is the consensus candidate of BJP, JD-U, NCP and the NPF.

For KV Pusa, he can take advantage in the ENPO areas in the districts of Tuensang, Mon, Kiphire and Longleng.

ENPO has been very vocal accusing the Nagaland Government of not paying attention in these four Nagaland districts.

The demand to create a separate state 'Frontier Nagaland' by carving out these four Nagaland districts in the past few years has become very vocal under the regime of NPF.

Another advantage for KV Pusa can be that he is a Congress candidate fighting against the NPF which is the staunch supporter of the saffron party at the Centre.

There is a general view among the Christians that the BJP is a Hindu based political party.

Nagaland is a Christian dominated state.

However, so far this view among the Nagas who are Christians has not been reflected in the various elections.

NPF won assembly elections for the third term last year.

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