Nagaland Assembly Elections braces for tough contest

On Monday, a new government will be elected in Nagaland. Strict security will be in place as voting gets underway at 7 am. Nagaland’s interstate borders have been sealed in readiness for the next assembly elections to prevent undesirable individuals and possessions from entering Assembly Constituency from the outside. All checkpoints were instructed to be sealed from the evening of February 25 till the evening of February 27, according to an official statement from the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Nagaland. However, the movement of Essential commodities and Emergency services into the state is to be coordinated.
The polls would seal the electoral fates of 183 candidates across parties.
The voting will take place in 59 out of 60 Assembly constituencies on Monday, as BJP candidate Kazheto Kinimi was declared winner uncontested from Zunheboto district’s Akuluto constituency after his opponent from the Congress, N Khekashe Sumi, pulled out of the race on the last day for withdrawal of nominations, which was February 10.
In Monday’s polls, the BJP will contest in alliance with the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), its old alliance partner in the 2018 Assembly polls as well.
The BJP will, however, will be the role of a junior partner, having agreed to a seat sharing ratio of 20:40 in the state. The Congress and Naga People’s Front are contesting in 23 and 22 seats respectively. The CPI is contesting on 1, NCP on 12, NPP 12, RPP 1, JD(U) 7, LJP (Ram Vilas) 15, RPI (Athawale) 9, RJD 3, and Independent 19 seats.
The desire for a separate state made by the state’s eastern regions, accusations of corruption, government projects and programmes, border disputes with Assam, and insurgency are some of the few state-specific factors that could have an impact on electorate on Monday.
There are a total of 13,17,632 electorate in Nagaland, of which 6,61,489 are men and 6,56,143 are women.
A total of 2,351 polling stations have been set up in the state.