Nagaland Likely To Get First Woman Rajya Sabha MP

Nagaland is likely to get a woman Rajya Sabha MP for the first time as a coalition of the NDPP and the BJP, having 35 MLAs in the 60-member Assembly, nominated the saffron party's Mahila Morcha president S Phangnon Konyak as the candidate for the election to the state's lone seat to the Upper House of Parliament.

The Naga People's Front with 25 members held a meeting on Saturday to decide whether to support Konyak or field its own candidate, but it remained inconclusive, NPF secretary general and spokesperson Achumbemo Kikon told PTI.

The party will hold another round of meeting on Sunday.

However, even if the NPF fields its candidate, the NDPP-BJP combine has more MLAs and its nominee is likely to win.

Ms Konyak is yet to file her nomination.

Since Nagaland got statehood in 1963, it had got only one woman Parliamentarian, Rano M Shaiza, who was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1977 as an Independent Candidate. The state Assembly has never had a woman MLA.

A candidate has to file nomination papers by 3 pm on Monday, Returning Officer for the election, Khruohituonuo Rio, said.

The Rajya Sabha poll will be held on March 31 and votes will be counted on the same day.

The tenure of the incumbent member from Nagaland to the Upper House, KG Kenye, ends on April 2.

MLAs in the 60-member assembly will participate in the Rajya Sabha election as members of the Upper House of Parliament are elected by legislators in state assemblies. It is an election through proportional representation.

The Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) and the BJP had fought the 2018 state election together and won 21 and 12 seats respectively. They formed the government and got the support of two Independent MLAs.

The NPF joined the ruling dispensation in September last year and formed the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), an opposition-less government in the state.

Chief Minister and NDPP leader Neiphiu Rio said the choice of a woman candidate of the BJP was purely on the party line. "We have an alliance, and the NDPP respects its alliance partner," he told reporters. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)