First budget session of People’s Democratic Alliance-II from today

Kohima: A nine-day budget session of the new Nagaland Assembly will commence here on Monday, officials said.

It will be the first session of the second People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA) government of the NDPP and BJP, which retained power in the recent elections to the 60-member House.

Pro-tem speaker Mhathung Yanthan will administer the oath to the newly elected members, which would be followed by the election of the new speaker.

PDA nominee Sharingain Longkumer is all set to be the speaker for the second term as he is the only candidate to have filed the nomination for the post, assembly sources said.

Governor La Ganesan will deliver his maiden address to the House on Tuesday. Discussion on the motion of thanks on the governor’s address will be held on Thursday and Friday.

Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, who is also the minister in-charge of finance, will present the Budget 2023-24 on March 27 while it would be taken up for passing the next day, a provisional programme approved by the Business Advisory Committee of the assembly.

Meanwhile, the assembly is likely to take up the discussion of the conduct of the elections to urban local bodies after almost two decades.

The State Election Commission has scheduled May 16 for the polls.

However, various tribal organisations and three municipal bodies of Dimapur, Kohima and Mokokchung as well as the Congress and the NPF have raised objections to the conduct of the polls citing that some sections of the Nagaland Municipal Act, 2001 infringes Article 371(A) of the Constitution of India, which guarantees special provisions to the Nagas.

They have been demanding amendment of the sections dealing with tax on land and also 33 per cent women reservation before the conduct of the poll.

However, the state government, through the Municipal Affairs Department, has clarified that it is duty-bound to conduct the ULB polls before May 25 as directed by the Supreme Court.

Other businesses of the session include laying of annual administrative reports of various government departments, Comptroller Auditor General of India and passing of government bills.

The normal sitting of the session is for six days with three-day break on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.

The NDPP and BJP had contested the February 27 assembly elections on a 40-20 seat-sharing agreement, with the regional party bagging 25 seats and the saffron party 12.

The current House also has the highest number of political parties’ representatives in the state’s history.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has seven MLAs, the National People’s Party (NPP) five legislators, the Naga People’s Front (NPF), Lok Jan Shakti (Ram Vilas) and Republican Party of India (Athawale) two each, while the JD(U) has one member and four are Independent MLAs.