State Congress president S. Supongmeren Jamir snatched a historic win defeating his closest rival and NDPP-PDA consensus candidate Dr Chumben Murry by a margin of 50,984 votes for the state’s lone Lok Sabha seat.
This is the first time since 2009 that the ruling party in Nagaland had lost the Lok Sabha election.
Addressing the media after end of counting, returning officer Sushil Kumar Patel declared that Supongmeren received 4,01,951 valid votes out of the 7,59,150 total votes cast on the polling day.
Dr. Chumben Murry received 3,50,967 votes, while Independent candidate Hayithung Bill Lotha got 6,232 votes. There were 1,646 None Of The Above (NOTA) votes, while 2393 votes were rejected, he stated.
There were altogether 7.63 lakh votes, including the rejected ones, which were cast in 40 out of the 60 Assembly constituencies in the state. The six districts of Eastern Nagaland did not participate after ENPO decided to abstain from polling.
For the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS), 6,034 votes were received from servicemen and 6,432 postal ballots were received from elections officials, where 2,393 votes were found to be invalid. Out of these, the NDPP received 895 votes, INC 2,439, Independent 182 and 126 NOTA. Patel said invalid postal ballots were attributed to incomplete signatures and declarations in the forms provided. He said that the counting was held peacefully without any untoward incident.
Regarding the counting process in Eastern Nagaland, he mentioned that all the required counting processes were done and the result still stood at zero.
Chief election officer (CEO) Vyasan R thanked the police, public and various stakeholders in the whole electioneering process. He said the Election Commission of India (ECI0 had suggested that counting should focus on accuracy and not speed of completing the process.
‘Will work on Cong election manifesto’
Meanwhile, the victorious Congress candidate Supongmeren assured that the party will start working on the manifesto.
Addressing media after receiving the winning certificate, Supongmeren said he reach out to the grassroots and work together. He also expressed gratitude to all those who had voted for him.
Interestingly, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary and Rajya Sabha member Randeep Surjewala during a campaign in April in Dimapur nicknamed Supongmeren as “Superman Jamir”.
“I won because the understanding of the people of Nagaland was much more, and they were wiser than our political leaders. This win is clearly about the people wanting a change, and wanting to save democracy in the state and protect the minorities,” Supongmeren stated.
He maintained, “As a Christian state, we are dedicated, and the people of the state by voting had shown that they are true and genuine.” Supongmeren praised his opponent Dr. Murry as a noble, capable and humble person, but the result was issue-based and not according to a candidate’s profile. He assured that the Congress would work for the people and deliver justice.
Staff Reporter: Meanwhile, speaking with Nagaland Post, Dimapur District Congress president Kutuho Chishi expressed joy over Supongmeren’s victory and thanked the Lord for His blessings.
He highlighted that the Congress had won against 60 MLAs, marking an exciting moment for the party. He attributed the success to the hard work of party workers and the trust of Naga people.
Asked about their expectations of winning by such a large margin, he admitted that they were uncertain about other districts, but had high hopes for Dimapur district.
On the upcoming urban local body (ULB) election, he confidently asserted that the latest win would indeed act as a booster, highlighting that in Naga politics, people tended to follow the victorious party. He expressed optimism about winning the ULB election as well.
On the impact of the win on reviving the Congress in the state, he expressed confidence that under Supongmeren’s leadership, the party would surely get revitalised and continue to secure victories in the future. He also thanked the voters and party workers in Dimapur for their support.