Dimapur: In a historic moment for Nagaland, two women candidates have been voted into the state Assembly for the first time in 60 years.
Salhoutuonuo Kruse and Hekani Jakhalu, both members of the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), have broken the gender barrier in the state’s politics.
Kruse won from the Western Angami Assembly constituency while Jakhalu won from the Dimapur lll constituency. Both candidates were heartily endorsed by the Chief Ministers of Assam and Nagaland, Himanta Biswa Sarma and Neiphiu Rio.
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Jakhalu, who is a lawyer and a faculty member of Delhi University, is the founder of the YouthNet organization. She has received the Nari Shakti Puraskar award from the Indian President on International Women’s Day at Rastrapati Bhavan.
Her manifesto offers a vision for youth development, women’s empowerment, minority rights, and a model constituency in relation to the Dimapur III seat.
Rano M Shaiza was the only woman elected to the Lok Sabha in Nagaland in 1977 and S Phangnon Konyak became the first woman to hold a seat in the BJP’s Rajya Sabha in Nagaland when she was elected in 2022.
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The NDPP-BJP alliance crossed the majority mark, winning 37 seats out of a total of 60.
The BJP won 12 seats while the NDPP won 25.