GUWAHATI: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also Northesat Democratic Alliance(NEDA) convenor said the final agreement on seat sharing between BJP and NDPP in Nagaland would be finalised in New Delhi on January 18-19, 2023.
The Nagaland People’s Action Committee(NPAC) and other Naga organisation once again urged the Centre to solve the decade old naga political solution before the assembly polls.
The seat sharing between BJP and NDPP has yet to sorterd ahead of Nagaland assembly polls. Both BJP and NDPP has been working to solve the issue which were cropped up between them.
According to reports, senior Nationalist Deomocratic Progressive Party (NDPP) leaders including NDPP working president and Co-founnder of the party, Alemtemshi Jamir, Imkong L Imchen, sitting MLA of NDPP and several other senior party leaders have decided to join BJP.
All 60 legislators of Nagaland had decided to abstain from campaigning for the upcoming assembly polls to to held in the first half of 2023.
“Their will be no friendly contest in any constituencies between BJP and NDPP. The core committee of both the parties will decide seat sharing formula very soon,” said a source.
On the other hand, Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday asserted that as mandated by Constitution it would “deliver election” in Nagaland.
The ECI clearly stated that calls for boycott do not affect the political process.
The Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, who is in Kohima to review the poll preparedness in Nagaland, said, “We will deliver the elections despite whatever calls there are and it doesn’t affect the political process,”.
On the other hand, the major Nagaland’s groups viz. Central Nagaland Tribal Council (CNTC), Nagaland People’s Action Committee (NPAC) have demanded solution to Naga political issue before the assembly polls.
The areas under CNTC account for over 25 seats in the assembly, and they are the dominating presure groups in the upcoming polls.
Earlier, BJP was in alliance with TR Zeliang-led Naga People’s Front but in 2018, BJP broke alliance with NPF to join hands with the newly-formed NDDP, winning 12 seats, while NDDP won 18 seats.
Both the parties formed the goverment with the help of two MLAs from the National People’s Party, which is led by Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma. The two NPP MLAs in Nagaland later joined the NDDP.
The assembly elections in Nagaland are scheduled to be held soon as the present term of the legislative assembly in the state would expire on March 4.