Nagaland Parties Decide to Boycott Assembly Poll Over Stalled Naga Peace Accord

New Delhi: Under pressure from the civil society, the insurgent group National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah), the political parties of Nagaland have decided to boycott the February 27th Assembly elections if the political solution to the Naga cause doesn’t reach a conclusion.

The NSCN(I-M) is in talks with the government of India and the two signed the framework agreement in August 2015. But since then there has been no progress on the issue.

An all-party meeting in Dimapur took the decision to ‘come together in the greater interest of the state in solidarity with the call “Solution Before Election”. It also decided to defer the 13th Nagaland Assembly elections and allow the Naga political process to reach its logical conclusion by giving space and time to the negotiating groups to bring out an early solution.

Altogether, 79 members were present in the meeting, including representatives from political parties, NSCN(I-M), Tribal Hohos and civil society groups.

The political parties (national and regional) have decided not to go ahead with filing of nominations. They will not issue the list of candidates either. If the election notification gets published even after this, they will call for a bandh on February 1 in the entire state.

All the 11 political parties, along with Core Committee of tribal hohos, were present in a meeting at Hotel Japhu in Dimapur. It was the third round of meeting. The first meeting took place on 25th January. The second was held yesterday with NSCN(I-M) and NNPG working committee.

The call for shunning the polls was first made by NSCN(I-M) on 23rd January. The NSCM(I-M) went on to say: “The decision taken by the GoI/Election Commission of India to hold election is bound to undermine the progress of the ongoing talks between the NSCN and the GoI and become a serious obstacle towards finding an early political solution.”

This was supported by Nagaland’s tribal elders body, called the Naga Tribal Hoho,most of the militant groups and NGOs. The other groups supporting the poll boycott are: NSCN (Unification), National National Council (NNC/FGN), NNC (Parent Body), NPGN/NNC (NA), NSCN (R) and NNC/GDRN (NA).

A team of the ruling NPF had in fact come to the capital to negotiate the alliance with BJP. This attempt by the political parties of Nagaland is an attempt to remain relevant in the state politics. An increasingly tall task for these political parties, which are not part of the Naga talks and remain mired in corruption allegations.