Dimapur:
Three days after the Nagaland government and Naga civil society oraganisations unanimously decided to conduct urban local body elections in the state with 30 per cent reservation for women, a panchayat body placed a condition for the government before holding the polls.
President of the Association of Kohima Municipal Wards Panchayat (AKMWP), Thejao Sekhose, on March 11, said that the government must amend or rectify the Nagaland Municipal Act before going ahead with the civic body polls.
“Instead of conducting the election, the government should first amend the (Nagaland Municipal) Act,” Sekhose said. He also added that the AKMWP will hold a meeting soon to deliberate on the issue.
Earlier on March 9, the state government in a consultive meeting with different stakeholders had passed a resolution that the civic body polls will be conducted as per the 74th Amendment Act of the Constitution of India which provides for 30% reservation of seats for women. Many organisations, including the Naga Mothers Association, has hailed chief minister Neiphiu Rio and others ministers for the decision.
Clarifying that the association is not against holding the civic body polls, Shekhose, however, expressed discontentment with the 74th Amendment Act of the Constitution, saying that the Act is formulated keeping in mind the “mainland” India and “some of its provisions were against the Naga culture”.
He also accused the government of not consulting the stakeholders before adopting the Municipal Act, saying it’s a “copy of a similar Act in Gujarat” and “hence requires modification as it infringed Article 371(A) of the Constitution that provides special provisions for Nagaland”.
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