Nagaland gears up for urban local body elections
KOHIMA: The Nagaland State Election Commission (SEC) has announced a Special Summary Revision of the electoral roll for all municipal and town councils across Nagaland.
Nagaland State Election Commissioner T John Longkumer disclosed this during a media briefing on Tuesday (March 04), stating that the revision will be conducted with January 1, 2024, as the qualifying date, as per the schedule.
The purpose of this revision is to update the electoral roll for all 39 municipal/town councils in Nagaland to accommodate changes since the last revision, according to the notification.
The Nagaland government, dated February 27, has granted administrative approval for the conduct of this special summary revision.
For the revision process, the e-roll published on November 24, 2022, under the now-repealed Nagaland Municipal Act 2001, will be used as the basis for draft publication, as per Section 143(1) of the Nagaland Municipal Act 2023, the notification explained.
The schedule outlined mandates the publication under rule 6(1) of the Nagaland Municipal Election Rules 2023, with respective Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) instructed to provide wide publicity, as per rule 6(2).
The provisions of rules 4 to 10 of the aforementioned Rules will be applied for the revision exercise, and no enumerators, supervisors, or sector magistrates need to be appointed during this revision, the notification added.
Individual claimants/ objectors are required to directly approach the ERO in their office for inclusion/deletion, etc. Guidelines/instructions for the revision have been separately issued for the EROs, the notification noted.
Regarding the ULB elections, Longkumer stated that they will take place in three municipalities—Kohima, Dimapur, and Mokokchung—and 36 constituent town councils in Nagaland, with the entire election process to be completed by April 30, 2024, as per the Supreme Court's directive.
With the Lok Sabha election scheduled for this year, Longkumer expressed the need to carefully consider whether elections to the Lok Sabha and ULBs can be held simultaneously.
The stages for the Special Summary Revision of the Electoral Roll are as follows:
- Draft publication of electoral roll: March 8, 2024
- Period for lodging claims and objections: March 11-20, 2024
- Period for disposal of claims and objections: March 21-27, 2024
- Period for filing appeal to the respective appellate authorities: March 28 - April 3, 2024
- Disposal of claims & objections by the appellate authority: April 4-6, 2024
- Preparation of list of amendments after the decision of the appellate authority: April 8-10, 2024
- Final publication of electoral roll: April 12, 2024.