The Assembly elections in Nagaland will be held on schedule, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday amid a demand by the State’s civil society groups for deferring the polls to facilitate a solution to the vexed Naga insurgency issue. This was conveyed by the Home Minister to Nagaland Chief Minister T.R. Zeliang when the latter met him on Wednesday.
“HM also told the Nagaland Chief Minister that announcing the dates for Assembly elections is the prerogative of the Election Commission and the elections have to be held on schedule,” the office of the Home Minister tweeted.
‘Negotiations on’
During the meeting, the Chief Minister also gave some suggestions to the Home Minister for a solution to the Naga issue. “HM told him that the negotiations of various Naga groups with the interlocutor will continue,” another tweet said.
Nagaland Health and Family Welfare Minister Imkong Imchen on Tuesday said he supported the demand of various Naga groups to defer the Assembly elections in order to facilitate a solution to the seven-decade-old Naga insurgency.
Various civil society groups have demanded that a final peace accord be signed with the insurgent group NSCN-IM before the Assembly elections.
On Tuesday, the Naga Hoho, an apex Naga tribal body, sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s help in postponing the forthcoming Nagaland elections, saying that the insurgency problem should be resolved first.
“It is the unanimous view of the Naga people that the political solution or Naga peace accord is more important than elections and therefore, it has become imperative that the elections to the Legislative Assembly of Nagaland be deferred for peace and tranquillity,” the tribal body said.
Assembly elections in Nagaland, Meghalaya and Tripura are due in February-March and an announcement in this regard is expected early next month.
