Nagaland to hold first civic polls in 2 decades on Wednesday; 198 women in fray
A total of 17 women and 47 men have already been declared elected unopposed by the state election commission earlier last week
Nagaland will hold the state’s urban local body (ULB) polls in two decades on Wednesday with first-ever allocation of 33% quota of seats for women.
A total of 523 candidates are in the fray across 25 ULBs, including three municipal and 21 town councils. There are a total of 198 women candidates. Initially, 238 women had filed nominations but 23 of them from the eastern region withdrew in view of poll abstention call by Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO) over the pending creation of autonomous Frontier Nagaland Territory. Six districts under ENPO with a total of 14 town councils will not be participating in the ULB polls.
A total of 17 women and 47 men have already been declared elected unopposed by the state election commission (SEC) earlier last week. The commission on Tuesday said that voting would take place in 420 polling stations under 214 wards with 223,636 voters.
According to the commission, the youngest candidate is a 22-year-old woman, who will be contesting in Bhandari town council under Wokha district, while the oldest candidate is an 81-year-old man in Chozuba town council under Phek district.
Of the 523 contesting candidates, ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) has the highest number of candidates with 178, while its alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has 44, Congress has 37, National People’s Party has 22, Naga People’s Front has 21, Nationalist Congress Party has 15, Janata Dal (United) has nine, Lok Janshakti Party and Republical Party of India (Athawale) have seven each and Rising People’s Party has one. The independents add up to 182.