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DIMAPUR — Amidst ongoing discord surrounding the urban local body (ULB) elections, a total of 23 candidates have withdrawn their nominations. This included all 21 candidates who had filed for town councils in Mon district.
The candidates from Mon -- nine from Tizit, eight from Naginimora and four from Aboi -- had earlier defied the Chenmoho resolution of February 23, which called for a complete boycott of all state and central elections, including the ULB polls, in the eastern Nagaland region until demands regarding the Frontier Nagaland Territory (FNT) are met.
The State Election Commission (SEC) confirmed the withdrawals on Friday evening in its daily update on nominations and withdrawals.
It also informed that one candidate each for the Dimapur Town Council and the Wokha Town Council had withdrawn their nominations. However, it didn’t provide details about the wards they had filed nominations for.
It may be recalled that on June 6, several tribal organisations under the Eastern Nagaland Peoples’ Organisation (ENPO) had issued directives, urging individuals, groups and political parties within their respective jurisdictions to abstain from participating or filing nominations for the upcoming civil polls.
However, despite the directive, 61 nominations were filed in the eastern districts on the last day of nominations, June 11. This prompted tribal organisations to summon the candidates to explain their decision to contest.
Consequently, on June 13, all 13 candidates for the Longleng Town Council withdrew their nominations, reducing the total number of candidates contesting in the ULB elections across Nagaland to 656 from 669.
With the latest withdrawals on Friday, the number of candidates in the race has further shrunk to 633.