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Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, March 31: As the Lok Sabha elections draw near, leaders of political parties are having sleepless nights to ensure that their candidates win. Poll fever is yet to grip Nagaland unlike in big states but it is expected when star campaigners from and within the state campaign for the candidates of their respective parties.
For the lone parliamentary seat in Nagaland, there are four candidates in the fray, including sitting MP Tokheho Yepthomi of the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), and three others -- KL Chishi of the Congress, Hayithung Tungoe of the National People’s Party (NPP) and Dr. MM Thromwa Konyak, Independent (IND).
Surprisingly, Naga People's Front (NPF) that won the highest number of seats in last year’s assembly elections did not field its candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
According to the candidates’ affidavits filed with the Election of Commission of India, none of the four has any criminal record or pending criminal case. The oldest among them is Chishi, aged 75, and the youngest is 38-year-old Hayithung.
From among the four candidates, Chishi is the richest with an asset of INR 37.01 cr. (both movable and immovable assets), while Konyak has least asset - INR 11 lakh (INR 10,50,000 immovable, INR 51,000 movable). Yepthomi has declared in his affidavit that his spouse has three vehicles, while Konyak doesn’t own one.
The nomination papers filed by all the four candidates were found valid during the scrutiny but Konyak was barred from contesting with the Indian Christian Secular Party ticket after he failed to produce original copies issued by the party. However, he was allowed to contest as an Independent as his nomination papers were found to be valid.
According to the details furnished by the chief electoral officer of Nagaland, Abhijit Sinha, a total of 12,13,777 electorates, comprising 6,15,274 male and 5,98,503 female voters are illegible to vote in the upcoming general elections which will be held in the state in a single phase on April 11. The voting will be done in 2227 polling stations spread across the state.