By Moa Jamir
With barely two years remaining in the tenure of the 14th Nagaland Legislative Assembly, one might expect a bye-election to be a routine and quite procedural placeholder contest until the next general mandate. Yet, in Nagaland, politics rarely settles for the mundane. As the nomination window closed on March 23, the April 9 bye-election for the 28 Koridang (ST) Assembly Constituency shed its "routine" label, transforming from a simple vacancy filler into a crowded, high-stakes battleground.
On the last day of nominations, candidates in the fray include the ruling People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA) consensus nominee Daochier I Imchen of the BJP; I Abenjang of the National People’s Party (NPP); T Chalukumba Ao of the Congress; and three Independents—Imchatoba Imchen, Imtiwapang, and Toshikaba. With scrutiny set for March 24 and the withdrawal deadline on March 26, it remains to be seen how many will remain in the contest on polling day, but for now, the field is anything but narrow.
Of those, Daochier’s candidature is anchored in legacy as the youngest son of late Imkong L Imchen, a five-time legislator whose passing on November 11, 2025, necessitated this poll, positioning him as a face of continuity and expectation.
The NPP’s candidate, I Abenjang, enters the race amid reported internal dissent within the party’s State unit. Yet, the party’s organisational presence in the region ensures that it remains a serious contender, adding depth to what might otherwise have been a more straightforward contest.
The Congress has fielded T Chalukumba Ao, an ‘old timer’ who has contested multiple Assembly elections without success; his persistence perhaps as notable as his electoral record. The selection appears less a conventional choice and more a nod to experience as the party seeks a stable footing in the State. The Congress enters the fray with a renewed, if cautious, sense of relevance, buoyed by its 2024 Lok Sabha victory, where S Supongmeren Jamir secured a "David versus Goliath" win by over 50,000 votes. This marked the party’s first major success in Nagaland since 2014.
However, State elections are rarely referendums on national narratives and are often intensely localised exercises, with voters weighing familiarity, accessibility, and immediate concerns over broader ideological currents. The question, therefore, is whether the Congress’s parliamentary breakthrough signals a deeper political shift or was simply a convergence of circumstances unlikely to repeat in a constituency-level contest.
The presence of three Independent candidates further complicates the electoral arithmetic. In a State where local loyalties, village configurations, community alignments, personal networks, and even ‘alleged’ monetary influence carry significant weight, Independents cannot be easily dismissed, as such factors often outweigh party lines altogether.
Koridang, with an electorate of 22,390 (including 124 service voters), may be modest in size, but its current significance is anything but. For the ruling PDA, retaining the seat is as much about optics as arithmetic, about demonstrating continuity and cohesion. However, the PDA’s key ally, the Naga People’s Front (NPF), has remained relatively low-key so far, though its role may become more visible as the campaign gathers momentum.
For the Congress, even a single Assembly seat would mark its return after more than a decade. For the NPP, it presents an opportunity to consolidate its presence, while for the Independents, the fragmented field could open unexpected possibilities.
One certainty, however, is that whoever emerges victorious will enter the Assembly as a new face, with the advantage of incumbency, however brief, heading into the next State election. In Nagaland’s fluid political landscape, even two years can be long enough to reshape narratives. For now, what might have been a routine electoral exercise has evolved into a layered political contest where national signals, local realities, and individual ambitions intersect.
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