Our Correspondent
Kisama | October 8
Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio today announced that Municipal Council elections would be held soon after the census operations are over. Dwelling on elections to the urban local bodies and reservation for women to such bodies, the Chief Minister, in his keynote address, explained that due to the ongoing census operations which has the district administrations fully engaged in the manifold tasks that have to be completed in a time-bound manner, to concurrently hold municipal and town council elections by the district administration at such a critical juncture would have not only overburdened them but would have also affected the smooth conduct of the elections.
Assuring that the state government is committed to holding municipal elections soon after the census operations are completed, he however said it would be necessary to work out some consensus on how to carry out the municipal election with women’s reservation. Explaining further, he said the government had decided to postpone the municipal elections for sometime to enable the government to sort out the issue of women reservation as well as due to the ongoing peace process.
Dwelling on women reservation, he said it was gratifying to note that many enlightened people in the state no longer subscribe to the traditional view that women do not have any role in public governance in Naga society and opined that as long as we want to have municipal bodies in our towns and cities in accordance with the relevant Act, reservation of women cannot be done away with.
He explained that urban local bodies and reservation for women come in one package and cannot be separated now in view of the constitutional provisions. He also opined that women also have a reasonable share in the system of governance in the local bodies and could then graduate to the state assembly and the Parliament.
Retired Judge of the Supreme Court, Justice H.K Sema also came out in strong support of implementation of women reservation.
