BJP-led NEDA's narrow victory in Nagaland has an alarming message for the decades-old peace process with militant outfits
Election results in Nagaland had been easier to predict than the other states in the Northeast. The recently concluded polls was an exception in the hill state as the contest was unusually tough despite the fact that the ruling NDPP-BJP was endowed with all the resources to clinch a victory.
Finally, the National Democratic People's Party (NDPP) won the lone seat with a narrow margin of 17,768 votes after trailing until late in the evening on the day of counting. This was not only a departure from the previous trends but it also carried a stern message for the Narendra Modi government that the rebel outfits or the Naga National Political Groups are unlikely to compromise on their core demands.
In Nagaland, the peace process between the government and NSCN(IM) has influenced the outcome of the polls since 2003. The Naga People’s Front (NPF), formed a year earlier, supported the talks and espoused the Naga cause. It won the Assembly elections for the third consecutive term in 2013 and all general elections since 2004 with huge margins of at least 4 lakh votes.