Naga women enter urban local bodies of the state after a long, hard struggle

As many as 102 of the 198 women candidates won with 17 elected unopposed; eight women won from unreserved seats.

Interestingly, the oldest and the youngest winning candidates from among the 278 winners were both women: Septuagenarian Sibeule from Peren town council and 22-year-old Nzanrhoni Mozhui from the town council of Bhandari.

Although reservation did pave the way for women to find a place in civic bodies after a long, hard struggle in a patriarchal society like Nagaland, the women who fought against male opponents in this ULB polls said much more needs to be done for women leaders to be accepted in society.

“Prior to the elections, I was told that I should not contest since my ward is not a reserved ward for women,” said Ruth Thong, who contested and won from a general seat in Tseminyu town council against two male opponents. A teacher by profession with a background of over a decade of social work among marginalised communities, Thong said she stood resolute in her decision to contest with a vision to create an inclusive and equitable community despite the pressure not to contest against male candidates.

“It shows that there are still those who are narrow-minded and find it difficult to accept women in decision-making bodies. But I am grateful to the unflinching support from the women and youth of my ward who ensured my victory even when faced with strong opposition,” she said.

Why the polls were not held

Nagaland has 39 ULBs including three municipalities and 36 town councils but the polls could not be held since 2004 due to opposition from tribal bodies and locals over reservation for women and the issue of property tax, which they feared would dilute Nagaland’s Constitutionally-mandated special status.

Nagaland was created out of a political agreement with a special provision under Article 371A inserted in the Constitution. The provision said that no act of Parliament in respect of religious or social practices of the Nagas, Naga customary law and procedure, administration of civil and criminal justice involving decisions according to Naga customary law, and ownership and transfer of land and its resources shall apply to the state of Nagaland unless the Legislative Assembly of Nagaland so decides by passing a resolution.

This casts a special responsibility on the state’s lawmakers to make policies and decisions that do not impact or offend the rights of the people.

Leading Naga tribal bodies and civil society organisations have long opposed ULB polls under the Nagaland Municipal Act 2001 on the contention that the act was copied from another state and certain clauses were in contravention to Article 371A of the Constitution.

In particular, they argued, the act contained clauses that empowered municipalities to levy tax on land and buildings and this did not sit well with the people, who argue that the state has a unique landholding system where land is owned by the communities and indigenous tribes.

The crux of the argument is that Article 371A covers the entire state without classifying rural or urban areas, therefore, if the Naga people were to pay tax to the government irrespective of urban or rural areas, it implied that the land belongs to the government, which defeats the constitutional provision that ensures absolute ownership of the people over their land. To be sure, there is no direct relation between quotas for women and taxation on land and buildings.

It is also argued that though women are traditionally not part of decision-making bodies, in a progressive society they are treated with respect and equality and they do not require reservation to contest the ULB elections.

While not entirely opposing the application of 33% quota for women in ULB elections, the organisations demanded that the state government guarantee that women's reservation did not infringe Article 371A and suggested that the duration of the application of the 33% reservation should not exceed more than two tenures. Organisations also opposed the concept of reservation of the office of chairperson for women and termed it a deprivation provision to deserving candidates.

The journey of court battles

The Nagaland Municipal Act of 2001 was enacted in 2002. Despite the requirement under the Constitution (Part IXA), Article 243T — which was inserted by the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act 1992 to ensure that a minimum of one-third of the total number of seats to be filled by direct elections in every municipality shall be reserved for women; and seats may be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in a municipality — this did not happen in the 2004 ULB elections.

This prompted a woman candidate to approach the Gauhati high court in the following year against the state government for not notifying seats reserved for women.

In 2006, the state assembly incorporated a new section into the Municipal Act providing 33% reservation of seats for women in the ULBs and reservation of office of the chairpersons in the ULBs. However, the ULB elections could still not be conducted in the following years (2008 and 2009) due to continued opposition from various quarters towards the provision of reservation of seats in addition to the taxation issue.

In 2011, representatives of a women’s group called the Joint Action Committee on Women Reservation (JACWR) filed a writ petition against the state government’s decision to withhold civic body polls in the Kohima bench of the Gauhati HC. The court directed the state government to hold elections implementing 33% reservation of seats for women by January 2012.

However, opposition from tribal and civil society organisations meant that the ULB elections, though notified, were once again postponed. In the same year (2012), the state assembly passed a resolution under Article 371A to exempt Nagaland from the application of Article 243T. However, the women’s panel in 2014 filed a special leave petition against the assembly resolution in the Supreme Court — two years later, it revoked the resolution, bringing women’s reservation back.

It also removed provisions relating to property tax (tax on land and building) from the state municipal act — all references and operative provisions relating to tax on land and buildings in the act were deemed to be “omitted”.

The state government then notified the ULB polls with 33% reservation for women to be held in early 2017. With assurance from the then chief minister TR Zeliang to conduct the polls as scheduled, amid protests from civil and tribe organisations, the JACWR withdrew their case in January 2017.

The government’s decision to go ahead with the polls despite opposition from organisations erupted in violent protests, loss of lives and successive strikes including the locking down of government offices by protesters. Subsequently, the government called off the elections and Zeliang stepped down as the chief minister.

Subsequently, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court seeking 33% reservation for women in the elections to the civic bodies in the state. The Apex Court directed the state to conduct its local body polls by April 2023 but faced with continued opposition by various organisations, the Nagaland Legislative Assembly repealed the contentious 2001 act in March 2023.

In November last year, facing contempt of court, chief minister Neiphiu Rio-led state assembly passed a fresh municipal bill with the mandatory one-third reservation of seats for women in ULBs. It excluded the provisions relating to taxes on land and buildings as well as the contentious provisions for the reservation of the offices for chairpersons.

Following the completion of necessary procedures and the receipt of the state Governor’s assent to the new bill, the Nagaland Municipal Act 2023 was adopted earlier in March this year and the state’s advocate general assured the Supreme Court that the ULB elections in Nagaland would be completed by June.

“The entry of women candidates into reserved wards for women as well as open wards in municipalities and towns in Nagaland is an important phase for Naga women. After 20-plus years of not holding municipal elections, the outcome of the ULB elections will herald the development of our towns. The active participation of women in the urban decision-making bodies is what we envisioned when we moved as the Joint Action Committee on Women's Reservation. Our struggle has been long but worthwhile,” said Rosemary Dzuvichu, a professor at Nagaland University and one of the women who spearheaded the fight to bring reservation in the state’s ULBs.

Although the state has 39 ULBs, elections were held only for 25 due to non-participation of the six eastern districts which have a total 14 town councils. Tribals from the districts of Mon, Tuensang, Kiphire, Longleng, Noklak and Shamator under the aegis of Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation have a standing resolution to abstain from participating in any central or state elections until the issue of an autonomous Frontier Nagaland Territory is settled. They also boycotted the Lok Sabha polls.