Assembly elections will take place on February 27, 2023 for the 60-member Nagaland Legislative Assembly. The results will be declared on March 2. The term of the Nagaland Assembly will end on March 12.

184 candidates are in the fray, including 68 from the national parties and 72 from state parties. The magic figure required to form the government in the Nagaland Assembly is 31.

In the last elections, the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) entered into an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and formed the government in Nagaland after the 2018 Assembly elections, with backing from the Janata Dal (United) and an Independent.

In the last Assembly elections, the NDPP bagged 17 constituencies in the while the BJP and JD(U) had won 12 and 1 seat. The Naga People’s Front (NPF) had claimed 26 of the 58 seats it contested in the polls. In 2021, the NPF joined the ruling NDPP-led alliance to form an all-party government named United Democratic Alliance (UDA).

The NDPP and BJP have announced the same seat-sharing in the 2023 Assembly election. The NDPP has fielded candidates in 40 seats while the BJP is aiming to win the remaining 20 seats. 

Since last Assembly elections, the strength of NPF’s in the 60-member Nagaland Assembly has gone down after 21 of its MLAs led by former Nagaland Chief Minister TR Zeliang defected to the NDPP in 2022. Currently, NPF has just four sitting MLAs in Nagaland.