Nagaland is set to hold urban local body elections next month, for the first time since 2004. Here is what lay behind the long wait, and how elections are being held now.
After the conclusion of Lok Sabha polling in Nagaland, the state is gearing up for another election next month: its long pending municipal polls, which last took place in 2004.
On April 26, the state cabinet approved the conduct of the urban local body polls to the state’s 3 municipal councils and 36 town councils. Subsequently, the State Election Commission (SEC) notified the schedule for the election, set to take place on June 26.
Over the years, Nagalands’s urban local bodies elections have been a contentious matter, particularly over the question of women’s reservation. If the polls are successfully conducted next month, it will come after several failed attempts, court proceedings, and political opposition — which have led to violence, the resignation of a chief minister, and finally, the creation of a new municipal act last year.
Behind the contention
Urban local body polls were held for the first and last time in Nagaland in 2004, in line with the provisions of the Nagaland Municipal Act, 2001 (henceforth, ‘the Act’). In 2006, this Act was amended to include 33% reservation for women — in line with the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments of 1992 which mandated reserving “not less than one-third of the total number of seats” for women in rural and urban local bodies.
It was this 2006 amendment that became a subject of controversy. The opposition to it, led by tribal bodies, was on the grounds that the reservation for women was in contravention with Naga customary laws, as enshrined in Article 371(A) of the Constitution, which accords special status to Nagaland for the protection of traditional religious and social practices of the Nagas.
In 2009, the state government deferred municipal elections, which were set to be held the following year, in light of the controversy surrounding the Act.
Over a decade long fight
However, there were also those fighting to implement women’s reservations in Nagaland. In 2011, the Naga Mothers’ Association (NMA), an influential women’s organisation, petitioned the Gauhati High Court on the matter. That year, the court directed the Nagaland government to hold local body elections.
But in 2012, the state assembly passed a resolution rejecting women’s reservation in the polls. Following this, the NMA filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court based on which, in 2017, the apex court directed the government to hold the polls. When the government moved to conduct the elections in line with this directive, the state was rocked with violent protests in which two people died. In the face of mounting pressure, T R Zeliang, then Chief Minister — and now Deputy CM — resigned from his position.
The matter seemed to take a new direction in 2022, when the Nagaland government conducted a multi-stakeholder meeting in March with tribal bodies, churches, civil society organisations, and NGOs in which a resolution to hold the polls was adopted. The government then informed the SC that it was ready to implement 33% womens’ reservation in the polls. The top court asked the Nagaland SEC to schedule dates.
Some more hiccups
Despite this, municipal elections are yet to take place in Nagaland. After the current Neiphiu Rio-led government was elected last year, the SEC notified that the election would be conducted that May.Once again, however, opposition to the reservations began to emerge, despite the earlier claimed consensus. Tribal hohos — apex tribal bodies — resolved to boycott the polls till the Nagaland Municipal Act was reviewed. Among the concerns they listed was a demand for a “guarantee” from the government that the 33% women’s reservation does not infringe on Article 371-A “before rushing to conduct the Urban local Body election”; a demand for specifying the duration for which the reservation would be applied, suggesting that it be capped at two tenures; and an opposition to reserving the position of chairperson for women.
A new municipal act
Following the boycott call, the state assembly in March last year repealed the Act and passed a resolution that a new law would be enacted that would “take into consideration once and for all the grievances of all the interested parties so that the elections could be conducted in accordance to law.” The assembly resolution stated that there were concerns that the law and order in the state would deteriorate if the elections were held without reviewing the Act.
In November, in a special emergency session, the assembly passed a new Nagaland Municipal Bill, 2023 which retains 33% reservation for women in the urban local bodies but has done away with the provision of reservation to the post of chairperson to municipal bodies, as well as the provisions for taxes on immovable property.
The polls which are now scheduled are in line with this new Act.
Written by Sukrita Barua
Source: Indian Express, 12/05/24
