Fix date for civic body polls with women’s quota, Supreme Court tells Nagaland

Court had earlier pulled up State government over delay in enforcing reservation

The Supreme Court has directed the Nagaland government to fix a date for the elections to the urban local bodies (ULBs) with 33% seats reserved for women.

The apex court has also asked the State Election Commission to apprise it of the poll schedule on the next date of hearing in July.

On Tuesday, the State government’s counsel told the court that a resolution was adopted in favour of women’s quota for the ULBs on March 9 at a consultative meeting of all the stakeholders. The civic body polls have not been held in Nagaland for more than a decade due to the opposition to the 74th amendment giving 33% seats to women.

The apex court said the resolution indicated there was no impediment in holding the ULB elections with reservation for women but maintained that the authorities were going “very, very slow” on the matter.

“We have also pursued the affidavit of compliance in which it is stated that on March 16, 2022, a meeting was held in regard to elections for urban local bodies. After taking into account the direction of this court, the State Election Commission was intimated to use State Assembly electoral rolls as the basis for municipal elections and intensively update the same on account of the large gap since the last elections.”

The Supreme Court had earlier pulled up the Nagaland government over the delay in implementing quota for women in the ULBs.

The Nagaland government’s bid to hold the civic body polls in 2017 had triggered widespread violence and led to the resignation of T.R. Zeliang as the Chief Minister.