Nagaland Assembly polls : Former CM Rio elected unopposed after NPF candidate withdraws nomination
Kohima, Feb 12 (IBNS) : Former Chief Minister of Nagaland Neiphu Rio was on Monday elected uncontested in the Nagaland Assembly polls after his opponent, Naga People’s Front (NPF) candidate Chupfuo Kense, withdrew his nomination papers.
They had filed nomination for contest for the Northern Angami-II seat.
Rio, who led Nagaland for three terms over 11 years, deserted the Naga People’s Front in January and joined the newly formed Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) to fight elections on its ticket.
On Febuary 3, the BJP forged an alliance and came to a seat sharing agreement with the NDPP.
The Assembly polls are scheduled to be held on February 27.
Rio’s party has fielded 40 candidates for the state’s 60 Assembly seats while the BJP has put in 20 nominees.
A member of the powerful Angami Naga tribe and considered to be the tallest political leader in Nagaland in the present day, Rio was first elected to the state Assembly in 1989 as a Congress candidate from Northern Angami-II constituency. He was then inducted as a minister in the SC Jamir-led Government.
He was again elected from the same seat in 1993 as Congress candidate and was appointed a minister.
Rio was the Home Minister of SC Jamir-led government from 1998 to 2002 before he left Congress following ideological differences with Jamir.
Rio joined NPF and became of Nagaland CM in 2003 after the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) won the state elections, bringing AN to end the Congress’s 10-year-long rule.
He again won from the Northern Angami-II seats in 2008 and 2013 and became CM.
With ambitions to enter in the national politics, Rio had contested the 2014 general elections and was elected to the Lok Sabha.
After being denied a berth in the Union cabinet he came back to regional politics.
(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
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