Nagaland state election commissioner TJ Longkumer directed all the deputy commissioners and returning officers to conduct elections to the municipal and town councils in the state in a free and fair manner within the bounds of law and the Nagaland Municipal Act 2023 and as per relevant statutory provisions, rules and regulations in force.

Elections to the three municipal councils and 36 town councils in the state will be held on June 26 with 33 per cent reservation of seats for women.

In a notification on Thursday, Longkumer also asked them to ensure that the conduct of elections to the civic bodies in the respective districts operate within the laid down provisions of the Nagaland Municipal Act 2023 and the Nagaland Municipal Election Rules 2023 and under relevant guidelines issued by the state election commission through manuals/instructions/directions.

“They are to ensure that other than those expressly laid down by the government and the commission, any extra-statutory rules and regulations made and adopted by any other groups/associations/municipality wards insofar as it curtails/deprives the rights and eligibility of an otherwise eligible ward resident to vote or to stand in the current or future municipal/town council elections are effectively checked and not allowed to vitiate and undermine the electoral process,” the notification said.

Longkumer directed the DCs and ROs to take necessary actions in this regard for compliance by all.

The Nagaland government enacted the Nagaland Municipal Act 2023 to provide for, inter alia, the framework for the conduct of municipal and town council elections, and in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Act, framed the Nagaland Municipal Election Rules 2023 to regulate the conduct of elections and its adherence by all concerned.

The notification said other than what is explicitly laid down in the Act, rules or instructions and directions issued from time to time by the commission, any violation or any deviation from the established statutes, rules, or instructions by making extraneous rules/regulations by any groups/individuals or municipality wards in conflict with those legally laid down not only vitiates and undermines the electoral process and level playing field but also renders such contravention unlawful and liable to penal action as per relevant provisions of the law.

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