The Election Commission of India on Wednesday announced that polling for the Nagaland Assembly election will be held on February 27, and the results will be declared on March 2. The tenure of the 60-member Nagaland Assembly ends on March 12, 2023. The poll panel said that the last date for filing of nomination will be February 7, and candidates can withdraw their nominations till February 10.
The announcement was made by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, along with election commissioners Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel at the Rang Bhawan auditorium in New Delhi today.
The hill state of Nagaland has 59 Scheduled Tribes (STs) seat and one general seat, and over 13 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise.
Nagaland Assembly election 2023 date, schedule:
-Date of issue of gazette notification: January 31
-Last date of making notifications: February 7
-Date of scrutiny of notifications: February 8
-Last date for withdrawal of candidatures: February 10
-Date of elections: February 27
-Date of counting: March 2
-Date before election shall be completed: March 4
The 2018 Nagaland Legislative election, held in 59 out of the 60 constituencies, delivered a hung mandate with the ruling Naga People’s Front (NPF) bagging 26 seats of the 60, the BJP clinching 12 seats, Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) 18, the National People’s Party (NPP) and Janata Dal (Secular) two seats each, while one seat went to an Independent.
The BJP and the NDPP-led People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA) leader Neiphiu Rio was sworn in as the CM of the state for the fourth time. Rio was elected unopposed on an NDPP ticket from the 11th Northern Angami-II Assembly constituency.
Although the NPF bagged maximum seats in the last elections, it is likely going to be tough this year, as in April 2022, 21 MLAs of the NPF had defected to the NDPP.