Not much worried about the NSCN(IM)'s imposition of 'emergency' in Nagaland, CEC N Gopalaswami has exuded confidence in holding violence-free elections in the restive northeastern state.
SHILLONG: Not much worried about the NSCN(IM)'s imposition of 'emergency' in Nagaland, Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami has exuded confidence in holding violence-free elections in the restive northeastern state.
"We will hold free, fair and peaceful polling in Nagaland," Gopalaswami said after reviewing the poll preparedness in Meghalaya on Friday night.
When asked about the frontline Naga rebel group's clamping of 'emergency' in the proposed state of 'Nagalim', the CEC quipped, "In India many people or groups do things in their own way. The EC too has its own way. We are not only determined but we will ensure violence-free polling in the three poll-bound NE states, including Nagaland."
Close on the heels of the declaration of President's Rule in Nagaland by the Centre, the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland faction headed by Isak Chishi Swu and T Muivah (NSCN-IM) on January 12 imposed 'emergency' in the state of 'Nagalim', "in view of the precarious situation in Nagalim which increasingly threatens peace and normal state of affairs".
The NSCN-IM, pressing for a Naga homeland in northeast India, has been engaged in peace talks with the Indian government ever since the group entered into a ceasefire agreement with the Centre in July 1997.
The CEC, accompanied by election commissioners SY Qureshi and Navin Chawla, has already reviewed the situations in Meghalaya and Tripura.
Not denying that some militant pockets in Meghalaya were a concern, the CEC said the police authorities briefed him about the requirement of additional forces to ensure peaceful polling.
"We are meeting in Delhi on Monday, and after the meeting the allocation of additional forces to the poll-bound states would be finalised," he said.
Apart from the militant pockets, the movement of insurgents along the Indo-Bangla border and possible spill-over from the unrest in Assam has also kept the authorities in Meghalaya here on alert, with the chief minister asking the Centre for 45 additional companies of paramilitary forces for the elections.
Election commission officials said that out of 1582 polling stations in Meghalaya, 635 have been identified as hyper-sensitive, the concentration of which are mostly in the Bangladesh-bordering Jaintia Hills district.
Meghalaya goes to polls on March three, while elections in Nagaland and Tripura are slated for March five and February 23.
Faced with threats from militant outfits and possible violence in Tripura, the Election Commission said that 'specific measures' will be taken to ensure peaceful assembly polls in Tripura.
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