Three political parties have finalised their list of candidates for the Nagaland Assembly elections, but no one has filed nominations till Monday, with less than 48 hours to the deadline.
The Election Commission started the poll process in Nagaland on January 31, setting February 7 as the last day for submission of papers.
Officials said they expected a last-minute rush as “more than 100 candidates” had collected the nomination sheets. The delay has been attributed to the January 29 decision by a core committee of tribal organisations to boycott the polls.
The committee, comprising extremist organisations, wants a solution to the Naga political issue before polls.
“Nobody has filed nominations till Monday, but several candidates are learnt to have left for their constituencies to do so,” Chief Electoral Officer Abhijit Sinha said. Of the 11 political parties that endorsed the core committee’s boycott decision, four including the Congress backed out for contesting the election. Three of them have announced their list of candidates.
The ruling Naga People’s Front (NPF) has issued a list of 58 candidates. The Bharatiya Janata Party and the new regional party, Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party, which announced a seat-sharing agreement last week, have finalised 20 and 39 candidates, respectively.
Meanwhile, security forces have reported stray incidents of violence in the State not related to the poll boycott call. In one such instance, NPF supporters on Sunday night attacked the house of Y.M. Humtsoe, who quit the party to contest as a Janata Dal (U) candidate.
The police said four NPF supporters were arrested for attacking Mr. Humtsoe’s house at Wokha village in Wokha district, for setting ablaze and damaging six vehicles. No one was injured.
