Northeast Desk, 21st June: Around 2.76 lakh voters in Nagaland will decide the fate of 523 candidates in the upcoming urban local body elections on June 26. This marks the first election for three municipal councils and 36 town councils in the state after a 20-year hiatus.
State Election Commissioner T John Longkumer announced in a press conference that a total of 670 nominations were received. Following scrutiny, four nominations were rejected, 79 were withdrawn, and 64 candidates were elected unopposed. Notably, no candidates are contesting in the town councils of eastern Nagaland.
The electorate consists of 2,76,229 voters, including 1,40,167 women and 1,36,062 men, who will cast their votes across 418 wards, with 142 reserved for women. The election will see participation from several political parties, including the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), BJP, Congress, Naga Peoples’ Front (NPF), Rising Peoples’ Party, RPI (Athawale), JD(U), and LJP.
Voting will take place from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm under strict security measures implemented by Nagaland Police. Addressing allegations of a Congress candidate in Dimapur being coerced to withdraw by a BJP MLA, Longkumer confirmed the receipt of a formal complaint and stated that the matter has been forwarded to the deputy commissioner and returning officer of Dimapur.
Longkumer appealed for peaceful participation and assured free and fair elections. He also noted that the use of ballot papers was necessitated by the Election Commission’s decision against using EVMs for the civic polls. A shortage of ballot boxes was resolved with assistance from Arunachal Pradesh.
State police nodal officer Limasunep Jamir detailed that elections will be held in 278 wards across 10 districts, with 530 polling stations set up. Of these, 229 have been categorized as hyper-sensitive and 209 as sensitive. Security will be bolstered by 108 companies of state security forces, including the District Executive Force (DEF), Nagaland Armed Police, and Indian Reserve Battalion, totaling 8,100 personnel.
“We will take all measures within the law to ensure that no one vitiates the peaceful atmosphere in the state,” Jamir stated, expressing confidence in a peaceful election process.
SEC secretary Wonchio Odyuo confirmed that all preparations have been completed and that polling personnel have been trained.
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