By Syed Zarir Hussain, IANS
Guwahati : Election bells are ringing in northeastern India with three of the region’s eight states going to polls to the state legislatures within the next five weeks, even as the shadow of insurgency looms larger over Nagaland.
The Marxist bastion of Tripura will be the first to go to the polls Feb 23, followed by the elections March 3 in Meghalaya, currently ruled by a Congress-led coalition, and polls March 5 in Nagaland, now under direct central rule and murky insurgent politics threatening to impact the electoral process.
The forthcoming elections are crucial for the Congress party, heading the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the centre, because it would like to stage a comeback in Nagaland, pose a tough challenge to the Left Front in Tripura and attain a clear verdict in Meghalaya.
A total of 4.5 million voters are to exercise their franchise for the election to 180 assembly seats in the three states. Each of the state legislatures has 60 seats.
All eyes are focussed on the elections in Nagaland where president’s rule was imposed Jan 4 after defections led to the exit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-backed National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government headed by Neiphu Rio.
The Congress, which has ruled Nagaland for many years, is making a desperate comeback bid with reports that former party veteran and present Goa Governor S.C. Jamir might return to state politics.
The situation in Nagaland has turned volatile with serious unrest in the Naga insurgency front in the past few weeks. A section of leaders and cadres belonging to the National Socialist Council of Nagaland faction headed by Isac Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah had defected, joined hands with the rival Khaplang faction and announced the formation of the NSCN without any suffix.
This has forced the NSCN-IM to declare an ’emergency’ Jan 13 with the group curtailing the powers of its ‘ministers’ and keeping its ‘parliament’ in suspended animation. The NSCN-IM’s topmost quartet of Swu, Muivah, vice chairman Khodao Yanthan and army chief ‘general’ Markson has since assumed control of the organization.
Three members of the rival NSCN-Khaplang faction have been killed in a shootout Monday in Nagaland’s Mokokchung district, the first such killings since the imposition of ’emergency’ Sunday.
The impact of the murky insurgent politics is expected to be felt during the polls in Nagaland.
In Meghalaya, the Congress has been heading the coalition although the party’s has been on shaky grounds in the absence of a clear majority. This time round, former chief minister and Lok Sabha speaker P.A. Sangma is trying to stage a comeback. Sangma, who had quit the Congress to join the Nationalist Congress Party, is trying to garner support for his party and make his presence felt in state politics.
In Tripura, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) led Left Front has a clear edge over the Congress. The Congress, however, has recently been able to put its house in order having resolved internal differences.