2023 Nagaland Election: 5 Facts On Naga People's Front's Kuzholuzo Nienu

In the 2018 Nagaland election, it was the Naga People's Front (NPF) that emerged as the single largest party, winning 27 seats. The BJP, however, forged an alliance with the NDPP, the Janata Dal (United) and formed the government. While the NPF too joined the ruling alliance in 2021, it is now faced with a challenge after 21 of its MLAs joined the NDPP last year. In the 2023 polls, the NPF is contesting alone and the NDPP-BJP alliance continues. The NPF currently has just four sitting MLAs, Kuzholuzo Nienu being one of them.

Here are five facts about the NPF leader

• Kuzholuzo Nienu is the leader of the NPF in the Assembly. He has been elected to Nagaland Assembly four times in a row from Phek constituency. He first won the seat in the 2003 polls, and retained it in 2008, 2013, and 2018. He was also a minister in the government helmed by TR Zeliang.  
• He was elected as NPF's leader in the legislature last May, days after the defection of 21 MLAs led by former Nagaland Chief Minister TR Zeliang. Kuzholuzo Nienu was named the co-chairman of the United Democratic Alliance the same month.
• In the run-up to the election, he told news agency PTI that his party will press for a solution to the Naga Political Issue if it comes to power. He also said it is ready for a post-poll alliance with any political party.
• The 57-year-old leader passed his Class 10 board exam from GHS Phek in 1981 and Class 12 from Synod College, Shillong, in 1983. Kuzholuzo Nienu went to Dimapur College and holds a Bachelor's degree in arts.
• For the 2023 Nagaland Assembly polls, Kuzholuzo Nienu is again contesting from his home constituency, Phek.