Women’s quota in civic polls Nagaland to seek Central ordinance

Posted on February 6, 2017 0 Comments410

Dimapur, February 05 2017: In the light of tribal bodies agitating
against attempts to holding the urban local body polls with 33%
reservation for women, the Nagaland Government has decided to ask the
Centre to keep the State outside the purview of a certain part of the
Constitution that deals with the matter.

The portion under
contention � Part IX-A of the Constitution � deals with the composition
of municipalities, and rules that “not less than one-third” of its
total seats should be reserved for women.

In an emergency
meeting held at Kohima late on Saturday night, the State Cabinet
decided to “submit a memorandum to the Prime Minister, asking him to
amend the Constitution through an ordinance”.

It was attended by MLAs from all the 16 major tribes in Nagaland.

Two
people were killed at Dimapur and more than 21 Government buildings
burnt down in the State capital in the last five days, after violence
erupted over the administration’s decision to go ahead with the local
body polls despite widespread opposition to the move.

“All 60
legislators of the State, both MPs, the chairman and vice-chairman of
the (ruling) Democratic Alliance of Nagaland are to submit the
memorandum jointly.

An early appointment with the Prime Minister
has been sought,” said a communiqu� issued by Chief Minister TR
Zeliang’s media cell.

Tribal bodies opposing reservation for
women in the local body polls have been demanding that Zeliang and his
Cabinet submit their resignations for trying to hold the elections on
February 1 despite conceding to a Church-brokered deal to postpone it by
two months.

Government offices in Kohima were shut down by
volunteers of tribal organisations on Saturday, and the movement of
Government vehicles was banned.

However, Dimapur � the commercial hub of the State � remained unaffected.

KT
Vilie, convener of the newly formed Nagaland Tribes Action Committee,
said no bandh would be held on Sunday to ensure that Church-goers
aren’t inconvenienced.

“But we will paralyse the Government machinery from Monday onwards, until the Cabinet steps down,” he added.

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