Campaigning is sluggish and politics cold in Nagaland, where elections to a new assembly are due on February 27. Long-pending issues regarding regional autonomy exist around the demand to create a state in the eastern region, but Nagaland has achieved a distinctive balance. Which rests on the politics of transaction. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its regional ally, the Nationalist Democratic People’s Party (NDPP), are continuing with their 2018 seat-sharing formula: contesting 20 and 40 seats, respectively. The opposition Naga People’s Front (NPF) joined the NDPP-BJP government in August 2021, in a “united push” to resolve the “India-Naga political issue” along with extremist groups, mainly the NSCN (ISAC) was a euphemism for final agreement. -Muivah). Voters, parties and other groups appear to be at peace with a no-opposition system of politics. 21 of the 25 NPF MLAs merged with the NDPP in April 2022, but most were denied tickets; one switched to the BJP to become one of its 20 candidates. The Congress, which was defeated in 2018, has 24 candidates, while the ever-strong NPF has named 22 candidates.
The demand for a frontier Nagaland state remains an issue despite the organization fighting for it withdrawing its call to boycott polls in six districts comprising 20 constituencies in the eastern part of the state. As in previous elections since 2003, the most discussed issue has been the peace process with extremist groups. Political ideology has a limited role in Nagaland, and elections are generally fought around personalities and their ability to show proximity to the ruling establishment in Delhi. Electoral calculations by groups are based around central money, which forms the foundation of the state’s rent-driven political economy. The BJP-NDPP alliance had described 2018 as an ‘election for a solution’ to the autonomy question. The Center signed a Framework Agreement with the NSCN (IM) in August 2015 and agreed positions with the Naga National Political Groups (a federation of seven organizations involved in the talks) in November 2017 – towards resolving the insurgency, but It soon went into an impasse over a separate Naga flag and Naga constitution. The extremists have demanded a political solution before the polls, accusing the BJP of betraying the Naga faith. The new government will have its hands full.