Nagaland Tribes Council (NTC) has stated that the state government’s decision to hold urban local bodies (ULBs) election amidst strong people’s opposition was an ‘imposition’ that would never carry the people’s mandate. In a press release, NTC president Lendinoktang stated that women reservation was against time tested custom and tradition of the Nagas, adding that introducing it in Naga society would infringe the Article 371 A of the constitution, in which the Nagas of Nagaland were provided with full guarantee to govern as per their custom and tradition.
Therefore, NTC stated that to uphold “our custom is our birth right” and also the constitutional obligation. It stated that no amount of justification would compensate the deprivation of “our rights and custom” at this moment.
NTC suggested that the best option for the government to end the crisis was to review the “erroneous insertion of 33% women reservation” and conduct fresh election without reservation in the earliest.