Nagaland creates history, elects women lawmakers ​

Hekhani Jakhalu of ruling NDPP creates history by becoming first MLA of Nagaland. (Credit @NDPPofficial twitter)

Sixty years after attaining statehood, Nagaland for the first time has elected women lawmakers to the state assembly on March 2.

Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party’s (NDPP) Hekhani Jakhalu and Salhoutuonuo Kruse have won from the Dimapur–III Assembly and Western Angami constituencies by a margin of 1536 and 7 votes, respectively.

This would be the first time that the 60-member House will see the participation of women. The state had never had a woman MLA despite the fact that women voters form a high percentage of the electorate. As per the Election Commission of India, of the total electorate of 13,17,632, the number of female voters in this election was 6,56,143 (49.8 percent).

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Of the total 183 candidates in the fray, only four women had filed their nominations, which included Rosy Thompson of the Congress from Tening and BJP’s Kahuli Sema from Atoizu apart from the two newly elected MLAs.

Nagaland had recorded a voter turnout of 85 percent on February 27. The government in the state is likely to be formed by the NDPP-BJP alliance, which fought the election on a seat-sharing agreement of 40:20.

While the two women MLAs have made history, there has been a precedent of sorts. In 1977, Rano Mese Shazia was elected as a Lok Sabha member from Nagaland. She was given ticket by the United Democratic Party.

Also read: The message in Nagaland’s mandate to NDPP-BJP: Work hard, deliver on promises