The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has finalized its candidate for the crucial 28-Koridang (ST) Assembly Constituency in Nagaland, naming Daochier I Imchen for the upcoming by-election.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the party’s Central Election Committee held on March 18, according to a press release issued on March 19. The meeting was chaired by party national president Nitin Naveen and attended by senior leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and Home Minister Amit Shah, along with other committee members.
The Koridang seat has drawn particular attention as it goes to polls following the demise of its incumbent MLA, Imkong L Imchen. The nomination of Daochier I Imchen signals the BJP’s bid to retain the constituency. Daochier I Imchen is the son of Imkong L Imchen, a veteran Nagaland politician who represented the seat for nearly 25 years and was serving as a BJP legislator in the PDA government at the time of his death.
Alongside Koridang, the BJP has also cleared candidates for four other Assembly constituencies across the country. In Goa, Ritesh Ravi Naik has been fielded from the 21-Ponda seat. In Karnataka, Veerabhadrayya Charantimath and Srinivas T Dasakariyappa have been named for the 24-Bagalkot and 107-Davanagere South constituencies respectively. In Tripura, Jahar Chakraborti has been nominated from the 56-Dharmanagar seat.
The Election Commission had earlier announced that by-polls to eight assembly constituencies across six states will be held on April 9 and April 23. According to the EC, polling will take place on April 9 in five seats in Goa, Karnataka, Nagaland and Tripura, and on April 23 in three constituencies in Gujarat and Maharashtra. Counting of votes for all eight seats will be conducted on May 4.
