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Polity & Governance
Mahesh

09/05/24 07:03 AM IST

The delay in Nagaland civic body polls

In News
  • Recently, Nagaland’s State Election Commissioner T.J. Longkumer notified the schedule of elections to the State’s Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) across three municipal councils — Dimapur, Kohima, and Mokokchung — and 36 town councils. 
Civic polls
  • Until the recent notification, Nagaland has been the only State where 33% of the seats or wards in the ULBs have not been reserved for women as mandated by clause IV of the 74th Amendment to the Constitution of India because of opposition from the Naga hohos (traditional apex tribal bodies) who argued that such a quota would violate the special provisions granted by Article 371A of the Constitution to Nagaland.
  • The first and only civic body election in Nagaland was held in 2004 without any reservation of seats for women.
  • The State government amended the 2001 Municipal Act in 2006 to include 33% reservation for women in line with the 74th Amendment.
  • This triggered widespread opposition forcing the government to indefinitely postpone the ULB polls in 2009.
Issues
  • Two issues had been stalling the civic polls for 20 years in Nagaland, which had its first women MLAs 60 years after attaining statehood in 1963.
  • One was the women’s reservation for the post of chairperson in the municipal bodies and the other was the taxation on immovable properties.
  • The Nagaland Municipal Act of 2023 did away with the reservation for the chairperson’s post and taxation on immovable property while retaining eight types of taxes, fees, and tolls.
  • The tribal bodies were initially opposed to reservation as Naga women have traditionally not been part of the decision-making bodies while pointing out Article 371A insulates the religious and social practices of the Nagas from any Act of Parliament apart from the customary law and procedure and ownership and transfer of land and its resources.
Source- The Hindu

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