GUWAHATI: The Nagaland Congress (NC), a regional political party of the state, merged with the National People’s Party (NPP) on Monday, ahead of the Assembly elections on February 27.
The NPP is a national-level political party, though its influence is mostly concentrated in the state of Meghalaya. NC president Nillo Rengma said the decision to merge with the NPP was taken in order to strengthen the party under the leadership of national president of NPP, Conrad K Sangma.
However, a final decision in this regard has not yet been taken, he added.
Meanwhile, six days have elapsed since the Election Commission set in motion the poll process in Nagaland by issuing the gazette notification, but nobody had filed nominations till Monday even as pre-poll violence was reported from Wokha district. February 7 is the last day for filing of nominations.
“Nobody has filed nominations till Monday. We learnt that several candidates have left for their villages (in interior Nagaland from Dimapur and Kohima) to file nominations,” the state’s Chief Electoral Officer, Abhijit Sinha, told TNIE.
However, the ruling NPF on Monday declared its first list of 58 candidates and the party’s working president Apong Pongener told reporters that they will contest all the seats. Asked whether the NPF would take the lead in submitting nominations, Pongener said, “Since the Naga tribal organisations have left the decision to political parties whether or not to participate in the election, we will file the nominations.”
Pongener exuded confidence saying “the NPF will surely cross the magic figure to return to power even this time”.
Meanwhile, in Wokha village in Wokha district, NPF supporters attacked the house of YM Humtsoe on Sunday night, setting ablaze and damaging about half a dozen vehicles. No one was injured in the incident. Humtsoe is gearing up to contest the polls as a JD-U candidate. The police said four NPF supporters were arrested in connection with the incident.
Politics at play
NPP, a national-level party, is mostly concentrated in Meghalaya NC chief Nillo Rengma said the decision to merge with NPP was taken to strengthen the party under leadership of NPP head Congrad K Sangma