Naga women denied 33% quota in urban local body (ULB) polls

KOHIMA: Scripting history, two women were for the first time elected to the Nagaland assembly in the February 27 elections. However, within a month, the 33 per cent reservation for women in urban local body elections gave an air of uncertainty to the elections for three municipal and 36 town councils in the northeastern state.

The urban local body (ULB) polls in Nagaland were recently cancelled till further orders by the State Election Commission, soon after the Assembly passed the Nagaland Municipal Act (Repeal Act 2023).

The assembly repealed the Nagaland Municipal Act 2001 in toto following the strong protest against the women’s reservations in ULBs by the various Naga tribal hohos and civil societies demanding the total review of the Nagaland Municipal Act, 2021.

The Naga organisations claimed reservations for women in ULBs would go against their community’s customary laws. The Supreme Court had earlier directed the state government to conduct the ULB elections, which the State Election Commissioner notified would be held on May 16.

The Supreme Court, hearing a petition on April 5, stayed the March 30 Nagaland poll panel notification, cancelling the ULBs elections in Nagaland. The apex court order comes after the People’s Union for Civil Liberties and others filed petitions challenging the cancellation of the elections. The petitioners urged the apex court to initiate contempt action for “disobeying” its March 14, 2023 order.

The cultural, societal, traditional, and religious practices, land, and resources in Nagaland are protected under Article 371A, which is also exempt from the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution for the setting up of municipalities. But the 74th Amendment did not give that exemption on the grounds that the state’s urban administrations were not part of the customary practices.

In 2001, Nagaland enacted its Municipal Act, and the first elections for civic bodies were held in 2004, but without reservation. The government issued a notification for the next civic body elections in 2012, but the polls could not be held following objections from tribal bodies, who strongly opposed women’s reservations.

In 2017, violent protests over this contentious issue left two people dead, and the then Chief Minister T.R. Zeliang resigned, forcing the government to declare the poll process null and void. Agitators attacked and set ablaze government buildings and properties in parts of the state.

The influential Naga organisations claimed that reservation for women was a violation of the Naga customary laws, as enshrined in Article 371 of the Constitution, which protects its traditional way of life. The Naga bodies and civil society organisations have insisted that they are not against the participation of women in politics, but accepting the reservations for women in ULBs would pave the way for dilution of the special protections Nagas enjoy under the Constitutional provision.

Later, some women’s organisations moved the High Court, and then they moved the Supreme Court.

The government paved the way for the polls by making certain amendments to the Municipal Act. During a consultative meeting last year, various organisations backed its move to hold the elections. The Naga Mothers’ Association (NMA) and a few other organisations and rights activists have joined the battle for women’s representation in the Naga political space with the election of two women MLAs in the recent assembly polls.

On March 29, the powerful NMA after a meeting in Khima reiterated its stand, saying “the Naga women are in support of the Act providing 33 per cent reservation in ULBs.” A delegation of the NMA recently met Governor La Ganesan and told him that the state government took the decision to repeal the Nagaland Municipal Act without consulting any of the women’s groups.

Naga Mothers’ Association advisor Rosemary Dzuvichu said that women in Nagaland are not in the decision- and policy-making bodies in the state, but the mindset of the people is gradually changing. Dzuvichu, NMA and other women organisations are hopeful that the ULB elections in Nagaland would be held at the earliest with 33 per cent reservation for women.

Scripting history in 60 years of statehood, Hekhani Jakhalu and Salhoutuonuo Kruse of the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party were elected to the Nagaland assembly from Western Angami and Dimapur-III assembly constituencies, respectively. Fifty-six-year-old Salhoutuonuo Kruse was included in the 12-member cabinet headed by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and given the women’s resource development and horticulture departments. In all, 183 candidates, including four women, contested the February 27 assembly elections in Nagaland.

In another historic development in April last year, 45-year-old S. Phangnon Konyak, who belongs to the BJP, became the first woman Rajya Sabha member from Nagaland. (IANS)

Also Read: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma attends mega Bihu preparation programme in Tezpur