6 districts in Nagaland have 4 lakh voters, yet none show up despite the shutdown call

Election workers in six eastern districts of Nagaland waited outside polling booths for nine hours, but despite a shutdown call issued by an organization demanding “Frontier Nagaland Territory,” none of the four lakh voters in the area cast ballots (FNT).

As the group has previously suggested autonomous powers for the area, CM Neiphiu Rio on Friday said that the state government has no issues with the Eastern Nagaland People’s Organization’s (ENPO) proposal for FNT. The highest authority among the seven tribal organizations in the eastern area is the ENPO. Only emergency services and administrative vehicles were reportedly moving on the main thoroughfares in eastern Nagaland, according to officials.

Extra Awa Loring, the Chief Electoral Officer of Nagaland, said that poll workers were on duty at the 738 voting places spread throughout 20 Assembly sectors from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

No one showed up to vote during those nine hours, according to sources in the CEO’s office. Additionally, none of the twenty MLAs used their franchise.

There are 4,00,632 voters in the six districts of Eastern Nagaland out of the total 13.25 lakh voters in the state. The chief minister told reporters that he approved the draft working paper for FNT that was given to him in front of Home Minister Amit Shah after casting his ballot in his hamlet of Touphema, which is located around 41 km from the state capital.

“Everything appears to be in order, with the exception of the members of the proposed FNT and the elected legislators in the area sharing power,” he said. According to the CM, the state had previously suggested creating an independent organization to ensure that the area received enough help.