Amidst the abstention call issued by the Eastern Nagaland People’s Organization (ENPO), Nagaland conducted Urban Local Bodies (ULB) elections for the first time in 20 years. These elections were also the state’s inaugural municipal polls with a 33 percent reservation for women.
According to State Election Commissioner (SEC) T John Longkumer, six districts in eastern Nagaland saw zero voter participation due to ENPO’s abstention call.
“Earlier, 79 candidates from these six districts filed their nominations, but they later withdrew their candidatures. No candidate is contesting in the town councils in eastern Nagaland, where ENPO gave a vote boycott call in support of their demand for Frontier Nagaland Territory,” Longkumer, the former DGP of Nagaland, told IANS.
Meanwhile, the SEC stated in a press release that polling for ULBs proceeded peacefully across 24 municipal and town councils, spanning 420 polling stations and 214 wards. A total of 523 candidates, including 325 males and 198 females were in the contest, he said.
“The polls went smoothly in all Polling Stations except in 1 (One) under Dimapur Municipal Council, the matter of which is under the examination of the State Election Commission for further action,” the SEC said in the press release.
Longkumer said that a provisional poll percentage of 83.54% voter turnout was recorded at the time of updating reports received. Atoizu Town Council recorded the highest voter turnout with a poll percentage of 95.47% while Changtongya Town Council registered the lowest turnout with 67.70%.
Re-poll, if any, will be taken on 28 June 2024 as notified in the Election Programme while the counting of votes will be held on 29 June 2024 at the approved Counting Centres, the SEC said.
‘MMC polls not vitiated’
The Additional Deputy Commissioner and Returning Officer of Mokokchung Municipal Council (MMC), Chumlamo Humtsoe, told this newspaper that polls were not vitiated in any polling stations in MMC.
It was informed that a total of 15895 votes were cast during the polls conducted in 13 out of the 18 wards under MMC with a voter turnout of 83.67% (Refer table below)
It may be mentioned that the polls were not held in 5 wards where there were no contests. The lone candidates from each of these five wards were declared elected unopposed on 18 June.
Meanwhile, a DPRO Mokokchung report said that elections to the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) under Mokokchung district were held peacefully on 26 June 2024 with district administration and security personnel covering all the polling stations under the district to ensure free and fair election.
Meanwhile, Changtongya Town Council recorded a voter turnout of 67.7%, Tuli Town Council 82.60% and Mangkolemba Town Council 95.48%.