Our Correspondent
Kohima, June 2 (EMN): Despite facing defeat in the recently concluded by-election to Nagaland’s Lok Sabha seat, the Naga People’s Front (NPF) on Saturday claimed that it has put up a strong fight and that the result was proof that the party 'still enjoyed the confidence' of the people.
Addressing a press conference at the NPF's central office in Kohima this evening, the party's spokesperson Achumbemo Kikon said that the NPF polled 3,89,912 votes during the state assembly elections in February and managed to garner 4,20,459 votes in the Lok Sabha by-poll. According to him, the increase of 30,547 votes has proven that the people of Nagaland “loves and support” the NPF.
“Although we lost, we gracefully accept the outcome. We are down but we are not out yet,” Kikon asserted. He did not hesitate to point out that the 1.7 lac winning margin was the lowest when compared to the previous three Lok Sabha elections. This, he said, showed ‘beyond doubt’ that people have no faith in the ruling People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA).
The spokesperson also referred to the recorded 86.73 voting percentage in the Lok Sabha by-poll against an 84.27% during the state assembly elections earlier this year. Kikon expressed shock that the turnout for the assembly election, when all the 60 assembly segments were contested by different political parties including independent candidates, was 2.46% lesser than the by-poll, which saw a contest between only two candidates from two parties (NPF and NDPP).
He alleged that there may have been an arrangement of proxy voting or polling booths being couped by opponents.
Objects to appointment of VC
It has strongly reacted to the appointment of someone who had recently run for elections to the statutory post of vigilance commissioner. “How can a government appoint an immediate ex-NDPP candidate to such a post? How can you expect fair dealings in his assignment when he has already made himself obligated to so many voters? This is very unbecoming of the PDA government, appointing a person who is already a political party candidate. This is not a political post but a statutory post. It has to be either IAS or IPS retired, that is what the norm says. They cannot just appoint a political person of their choice. We strongly object to the appointment and demand that the government revoke it immediately,” NPF spokesperson Achumbemo Kikon said.
Kikon clarified that he had no personal grudges against Lima, however, he said the latter was a one-time registrar of the high court and with the Gauhati High Court recently ordering a CBI probe into allegations that the Nagaland government misappropriated funds earmarked for the construction of high court complex at Kohima, the NPF was of the view that either a serving person of the high court or someone who had served as an officer in the high court should not have been brought in any of the investigating agency including the vigilance commission.
He went on to cite that a few years ago, a certain retired DGP’s name was proposed for the same post but the governor had turned it down as there was an ongoing case in regard to the state’s police. Stating that similar yardstick should be applied, he wondered how Lima’s appointment was approved.
Questions PDA’s silence on
Citizenship (Amendment) Bill
While registering its objection to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, the NPF has also questioned the silence of the ruling PDA in this regard. Recalling the Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) staging a protest in front of the Raj Bhavan recently voicing out against the Bill, Kikon said neither the governor nor the chief minister has made any comment on the issue so far. “This shows that they are not sincere on the rights of the people of Nagaland that are going to be encroached by the Bill,” he said.
Stating that the NPF was a party formed to protect the rights and identity of the Naga people including the indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland, Kikon said protection of identity here meant that from influx of people from other areas particularly illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. He pointed that this was ‘disturbing the demographic trend of the Naga people’. The northeast region has been badly affected including Nagaland, he stated, and that the NPF strongly objected to the Bill because it would make the Naga people the ‘most victimised group of people’.
He felt that the government of the day will not hesitate to push ‘these people’ to the NE “especially now that they have captured Tripura and Assam” and Nagaland was vulnerable.
