Nagaland Legislative Assembly

Nagaland was initially called Naga Hills, which was a district in the State of Assam till 1957. Later on, it was brought under the control of the central administration and renamed Naga Hills Tuensang Area (NHTA). In July 1960, Nagaland was made a full-fledged State of India. According to the Transitional Provisions Regulation1961, an Interim Body of 45 members was to be elected. Nagaland got the recognition of a state by the State of Nagaland Act, 1962. On 30 November, 1963 the interim body was dissolved and the Nagaland State came into existence from 1 December, 1963. The first Nagaland Legislative Assembly was formed on 11 February 1964.

As per the State of Nagaland Act 1962, the strength of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly was fixed to 60 members. However, within the first 10 years from the date of state formation, the Legislative Assembly of Nagaland allowed only 46 members including the 6 elected members from the Tuensang district, to be chosen by the Tuensang Regional Council. From 6 March 1969, the number of seats was doubled from 6 to 12 and the Legislative Assembly strength was revised to 52. In 1974 election, 20 members were elected from the Tuensang district and the assembly strength was again revised to 60 members.

There are no nominated members and all the 60 members are elected through adult franchise. The normal tenure of the legislative assembly of Nagaland is 5 years unless there is notice of prior dissolving. The house is run by 13 Standing Committees. The last Nagaland Assembly Election was held quite recently on March 2008. The poll was conducted on March 05, 2008 and the result was declared on March 08, 2008.

It was the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN), headed by the Nagaland Peoples Front (NPF) which scored the maximum number of seats in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly. In figures, they won 26 out of 60 seats in the Assembly Elections in Nagaland. The Congress missed the opportunity to form a government in Nagaland by a thin margin and managed to bag 23 seats. As per the vital statistics 13, 00,507 people voted for the assembly election. Congress Legislative Party got the maximum votes in 2003 Nagaland Legislative Assembly Election and secured 21 seats whereas NPF ended up with 19 seats. The BJP scored 7 seats while the Others had won 13 seats. Thus, it is quite evident from the available statistics that NPF and Congress Legislative Party always had a tough fight when it comes to the number of securing seats in Nagaland Legislative Assembly. The Nagaland Legislative Assembly election has always been an exciting contest between the two most prominent political parties of that region, NPF and Congress Legislative Party and either of the parties win by a thin margin.