Under state government how many women representatives are there in Nagaland?
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Answer:
Five women are standing for elections in Nagaland this year. This figure, which work out to 2.56% of the total number of candidates standing for elections this year, is an all-time high for the state. Two of the women are from the National People’s Party, one from the newly formed Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party, one from the Bharatiya Janata Party and one is contesting as an Independent. Nagaland’s grand old regional party, the Naga People’s Front, which has ruled the state for 15 years, will not field any women candidates.
Since Nagaland was formed in 1963, only 19 women, including this year’s candidates, have stood for assembly elections. None has ever won.
The state’s only women representative in Parliament died in 2015. Rano M Shaiza, niece of the Naga separatist leader AZ Phizo, was the first woman to become president of the United Democratic Party, an older incarnation of the Naga People’s Front. She won elections to the Lok Sabha in 1977.
After Shaiza, Nagaland has had few women politicians. It is a curious anomaly in a state where women fought alongside men in rebel armies, played a part in the peace process, went to work long before their counterparts in other states and are highly organised in influential civil society organisations.
Seven sisters
Of course, Nagaland is not alone in its poor showing for women. The national average for women in state assemblies is a paltry 9%. Of the five states that went to polls last year, Uttar Pradesh saw 446 women candidates out of more than 4,800; Punjab saw 81 out of 1,145; Uttarakhand 58 out of 637; Goa 18 out of 250 and Manipur 11 out of 266. This means the first three states hovered around 9% and Goa was around 7%.
In spite of these low figures across the country last year, some states in the North East do not compare badly. Assam and Tripura are not too far behind, with over 8% women candidates in their last assembly elections. Neither is Meghalaya, which will see nearly 9% women candidates in the polls on February 27. But Arunachal Pradesh, with 3.8% women candidates in 2014, Mizoram, with 4.2% in 2013, and Manipur, with 4% in 2017, are stragglers. Nagaland, which climbed up from 1.06% in 2013 to 2.5% this year, still finishes last.