Nagaland and its much talked-of all-party government

Nagaland takes pride in being the only state in the country with an opposition-less, all-party government since September 2021, an alliance that came to be in order to find a solution to the conflict over the political rights of the Nagas. The Democratic Alliance of Nagaland is a state-level coalition of all political parties in the state.

The Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) had allied with the BJP and formed the government in the northeastern state in 2018, with backing from the JD(U) and an Independent. Three years later, in 2021, the Naga People’s Front (NPF), which won 25 seats out of the total 60, joined the ruling NDPP-led alliance to form an all-party government named United Democratic Alliance (UDA) in a move to end the Naga conflicts.

This time, the ruling NDPP and BJP are contesting the polls on a 40:20 seat-sharing basis. The NDPP-BJP is seeking a mandate for the second term with Neiphiu Rio of the NDPP as the chief ministerial candidate for the alliance. BJP won 12 seats in the 2018 elections. NPF won 26 seats in the last Assembly polls and fielded candidates in 22 seats but one of them withdrew on February 24, leaving 21 in the fray. However, the party president and former Chief Minister of Nagaland, Shürhozelie Liezietsu, very recently announced that the party has left the option for a post-poll alliance open.

Also Read | History of separatism in the conflicted northeastern state of Nagaland

Amit Shah had recently said that Naga insurgency-related incidents in the Northeast went down by 70 per cent in the past eight years under Narendra Modi's rule.

The Naga movement is flagged as one of the longest-running problems plaguing the state. The main motive behind the Naga movement has been the integration of Naga-inhabited areas of India and Myanmar. Nagaland’s all-party government has approached both the Centre and the Naga insurgent group NSCN(IM) to talk out the issues and reinstate peace in the state but has seen very little progress.

According to the election officials, around 13 lakh voters, including 6,55,144 women would decide the electoral fate of 183 candidates, including four women nominees in Monday's elections. In the 2018 Assembly polls, 190 candidates, including five women, contested the elections.

(With inputs from PTI)