Republican Party of India (Athawale) president Ramdas Athawale tries his palms at enjoying the drums through the celebrations of successful two seats in the Nagaland Assembly elections. File
| Photo Credit: ANI
GUWAHATI
Lesser-known parties with ‘national’ ambitions have succeeded the place Congress has failed in the final decade – successful Assembly election seats in Nagaland.
This is a results of a win-win state of affairs for parties who could also be unknown in Nagaland, however are searching for to develop past their States of origin, in addition to for candidates searching for a platform to achieve a berth in the 60-member Nagaland Assembly after failing to get tickets from the State’s main political gamers.
Take the circumstances of the Bihar-origin Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and the Maharashtra-based Republican Party of India (Athawale). These pro-BJP parties had no presence in Nagaland earlier than the February 27 elections have been introduced, however nonetheless managed to win two seats every.
The RPI (Athawale) had a greater strike charge because it contested 9 seats in comparison with the 16 by the LJP (Ram Vilas).
Unlikely success
Other parties with the same standing, however who’re barely extra skilled in contesting elections in Nagaland additionally fared higher than anticipated. The Meghalaya-oriented National People’s Party and the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) gained 5 of the 12 seats that every contested, whereas the Janata Dal (United) bagged one out of the seven seats it contested.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal did not win any of the three seats it fought. The occasion based by Lalu Prasad Yadav has been contesting elections in Nagaland since 2008 with none success.
The Congress issue
According to Jeffrey Yaden, editor of the Dimapur-based Nagaland Post, the entry of such “unknown” and “strange” political parties is linked with the start of the disintegration of Congress in the State forward of the 2003 Assembly polls.
The S.C. Jamir-led Congress had gained most of its 53 seats in 1998 unopposed after the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah), lower than a yr after declaring a ceasefire, ‘ordered’ all political parties to not subject candidates due to the continued peace course of.
Mr Jamir quickly fell out together with his protégé Neiphiu Rio and different senior Congress leaders, who stop the occasion and joined the Naga People’s Front (NPF), which fashioned the alliance authorities in 2003 regardless of bagging two seats fewer than the 21 of the Congress.
Seizing alternatives
That 2003 election was the start of the friendship between the BJP and Mr. Rio, which carried on even after he switched his occasion affiliation but once more to the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP). The 2003 election additionally noticed smaller parties such because the NCP, Trinamool Congress, Rashtriya Lok Dal, Samata Party, and the JD(U) attempt to seize a possibility, although solely the JD(U) and Samata Party managed to win 4 seats between them.
In 2008, solely the NCP gained seats (two) among the many smaller parties. The others that attempted their luck have been the JD(U), LJP, RJD, Janata Dal (Secular), and Adarsh Political Party.
The NCP continued its successful streak by bagging 4 seats in 2013 whereas the JD(U) gained one and the RJD none. In 2018, the NPP and JD(U) gained a complete of three seats however the NCP, LJP and the Aam Aadmi Party drew a clean.
Win-win state of affairs
“Every leader seeks tickets from parties that are in demand [now, the BJP and NDPP]. Those who miss out seek parties that many in Nagaland are not acquainted with, since the Congress no longer seems to be an option,” Mr. Yaden mentioned. The Congress has not gained any seat in Nagaland in the final two Assembly polls.
“This is opportunism that works both ways – for political parties from faraway lands seeking the national tag and for resourceful people who want the MLA label. Each uses the other and there is the possibility of such MLAs joining the parties in power,” he mentioned.
The two MLAs of the NPP and one in all JD(U) joined the NDPP months after successful the 2018 elections.
