Nagaland Polls: Votes will be counted on March 2
Polling for the 60-member Nagaland Legislative Assembly will take place on February 27. Meghalaya will also go to polls on the same day while the voting for Tripura was held on February 16. The election results for the three northeastern states of Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland will be declared on March 2. The term of the Nagaland Assembly will end on March 12.
The Election Commission announced the polling dates for three states on January 18. A total of 184 candidates are in the fray, including 68 from the national parties and 72 from state parties.
The majority mark in the Nagaland Assembly to form the government is 31.
The Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) forged an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and formed the government in Nagaland after the 2018 Assembly elections, with backing from the Janata Dal (United) and an Independent.
The NDPP won in 17 constituencies in the last Assembly election while the BJP and JD(U) had won 12 and 1 seat, respectively. The Naga People's Front (NPF) had claimed 26 of the 58 seats it contested in the polls.
In 2021, the NPF joined the ruling NDPP-led alliance to form an all-party government named United Democratic Alliance (UDA).
For the 2023 Assembly election, the NDPP and BJP are again contesting together and have announced the same seat-sharing arrangement. The NDPP has fielded candidates in 40 seats while the BJP is aiming to win the remaining 20 seats.
NPF's strength in the 60-member Nagaland Assembly has gone down since the last election after 21 of its MLAs led by former Nagaland Chief Minister TR Zeliang defected to the NDPP in 2022. Currently, NPF has just four sitting MLAs in Nagaland.
Ahead of the polling on February 27, BJP's Kazheto Kinimi has already been elected unopposed from the Akuluto Assembly constituency. Khekashe Sumi of Congress, who was the only other contender for the seat, withdrew his nomination paving way for the BJP candidate to win the Akuluto seat for the second consecutive term.