Kohima: Nagaland voters created history by electing two women candidates, Salhoutuonuo Kruse and Hekani Jakhalu, for the first time to the state’s 59-year-old Assembly.
Both candidates are from the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP). While Salhoutuonuo Kruse won from the Western Angami AC, Hekani Jakhalu clinched Dimapur-III.
Several women candidates have been in the fray in the past elections to the Nagaland legislative Assembly, but none has emerged victorious.
A 48-year-old lawyer-activist named Hekani Jakhalu, a Delhi University graduate and faculty member there, defeated Lok Janshakti Party’s Azheto Zhimomi.
Jakhalu, a US-educated lawyer turned social entrepreneur and founder of YouthNet, is a recipient of the Nari Shakti Puraskar award from the President of India at Rastrapati Bhavan on International Women’s Day. Speaking about the Dimapur III seat, Jakhalu has shared in her manifesto a vision for youth development, women’s empowerment, minority rights, and a model constituency.
Kruse, a local hotel owner, contested against Keneizhakho Nakhro, an independent. Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio had campaigned for Kruse.
This year, two other women candidates—Kahuli Sema of the BJP and Rosy Thomson of the Congress—also contested the elections. While Sema lost by only 602 votes in Atoizu, Thomson forfeited her security deposit in Tenning.
Nagaland, however, has sent two women to parliament earlier. Rano M. Shaiza, back in 1977, was elected to the Lok Sabha. Last year, S Phangnon Konyak was elected as a Rajya Sabha member on a BJP ticket from the state.
