MLAs told to get feedback on holding civic polls: Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio
The Hindu
Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has asked all the members of the State’s 60-member Assembly to reach out to the traditional tribal organisations and civil society groups for feedback on holding the elections to the urban local bodies on May 16. Several organisations in three major urban centres of the State – capital Kohima, commercial hub Dimapur and Mokokchung – opposed the government’s decision to hold the elections with 33% of the seats reserved for women.
GUWAHATI
Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has asked all the members of the State’s 60-member Assembly to reach out to the traditional tribal organisations and civil society groups for feedback on holding the elections to the urban local bodies on May 16.
Several organisations in three major urban centres of the State – capital Kohima, commercial hub Dimapur and Mokokchung – opposed the government’s decision to hold the elections with 33% of the seats reserved for women.
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These organisations said the quota would violate the provisions of Article 371A of the Constitution of India that safeguards the customary laws and traditional practices of the ethnic communities of Nagaland.
“I have asked all the MLAs to reach out to the hohos (traditional tribal bodies) and civil society groups in their respective areas, get the feedback and make an assessment for a decision on whether or not to hold the polls to the urban local bodies (ULBs),” Mr. Rio said at a function to felicitate him and two other MLAs of the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party from Kohima district at the party’s head office in Kohima.
The other two legislators are Kekhrielhou Yhome and Salhoutuonuo Kruse, the first woman minister of Nagaland.