The Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO) on Friday rejected the Nagaland government’s appeal and stated that it remained firm on its decision of abstaining from participating in the Urban Local Bodies (ULB) elections, scheduled on June 26.
ENPO Secretary W. Manwang Konyak said that they did not receive any written appeal and only saw in the media that the state government has made an appeal not to boycott the ULB polls.“We have to go by the decision of our grassroots level people and organisation. We would abstain from participating in the ULB polls,” Konyak said.
After a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, the Nagaland government on Thursday urged the ENPO not to boycott the vital ULB polls.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister K.G. Kenye, who is the Spokesman of the state government said that the government has appealed to ENPO and its constituent bodies to participate in the ULB elections, which are being conducted on the directions of the Supreme Court.
ENPO which has been demanding a separate ‘Frontier Nagaland Territory’ or a separate state comprising the six eastern Nagaland districts, boycotted the election to the lone Nagaland Lok Sabha seat on April 19 in support of its demand, is the apex body of seven tribes from the six eastern districts of Kiphire, Longleng, Mon, Noklak, Shamator, and Tuensang.ENPO Secretary W. Manwang Konyak on Thursday said that they have already informed the State Election Commission (SEC) that the people of the six districts would abstain from voting in the ULB polls, covering three Municipal Councils and 36 Town Councils.”The ENPO has in a letter to the SEC informed about the eastern Nagaland people’s collective decision to abstain from participating in the forthcoming ULB elections scheduled on June 26. We did not get any further communication in this regard either from the government or the SEC.”He said that the ENPO had, on March 19, adopted a unanimous resolution that the people of the region would not participate in any Central and state elections due to the delay in creating the ‘Frontier Nagaland Territory (FNT)’ as offered and assured by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on December 7, 2023.
Since 2010, the ENPO has been demanding a separate ‘Frontier Nagaland Territory’ comprising six eastern districts inhabited by seven backward tribes — Chang, Khiamniungan, Konyak, Phom, Tikhir, Sangtam, and Yimkhiung. The ENPO and its allies had given a call to boycott the Assembly elections held in February last year but withdrew it later following an assurance from Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
- Agencies