With barely two-days to go for the Nagaland Assembly polls, political activities have geared up in the state with political bigwigs from all the political parties visiting the state, holding rallies and meetings, making convictions to the locals. It is too early to comment if their hard work will fetch results. The state will go to polls on February 27, 2023 and results will be declared on March 2.

Nagaland is one of the most beautiful and picturesque states in the north east of India and is among the seven-sisters (Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura). Like all other states, Nagaland too has its own issues and problems but one of the major issues is certainly employment. Also, the young generation in Nagaland are compelled to go to Delhi, Kolkata, and south India for education. In the northern belt often they have to face racial discrimination. “We have many issues but employment generation happens to be the chief among them. If we have opportunities in the state then we would not have to come and stay in far off places like Delhi or Kolkata”, said Athrila, a student from Mockokchung.

“I would like to draw the attention of the administration and government. It’s not our fault if we look different from the north Indians, often we face racial discrimination and sometimes it even turns brutal”, said Patsy Chishi.

Polling will take place across 60-Assembly seats in single phase. The number of registered voters in the state stands at 13,17,632, of which 6,61,489 are men and 6,56,143 are women. There are a total of 2,351 polling stations, with Merapani polling station No. 71 in the Bhandari Assembly constituency having the lowest number of voters at 37, and Usutomi polling station No. 12 in the Atoizu constituency home to the highest number of voters at 1,348. The Mokokchung Town Assembly constituency has the lowest number of electors at 8,302 while the Ghaspani-I constituency has the highest at 74,395.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) had resolved to continue with their alliance in the 2023 polls. The Saffron will contest from 20 Assembly segments in the Northeast state while the NDPP, will contest the remaining 40 seats as per the seat sharing agreement.

In the coming days, Nagaland will see intense campaigning with bigwigs like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, National President (BJP) Jagat Prakash Nadda, Chief Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge among others.