KOHIMA, Feb 9 ? Despite assurances by the top NSCN(I-M) leadership not to interfere in the election process, its cadres were threatening village elders against supporting Congress candidates in the run-up to the February 26 Assembly elections, Nagaland Chief Minister SC Jamir said on Saturday, reports PTI.
The chairman of many village councils in Mokokchung district were summoned by the NSCN(I-M) and warned of consequences if residents voted for Congress candidates, Jamir, also the PCC chief, said at a function to release the party poll manifesto. He said that he received information from Zunheboto that a large number of NSCN (I-M) cadres moved into the district for dispersing into groups in Assembly segments to intimidate Congress supporters, candidates and the electorate.
Jamir regretted that in spite of assurance by the NSCN(I-M) collective leadership to the Centre during the recent peace talks, its cadres were doing the opposite and creating a fear psychosis among voters. The Chief Minister later told newsmen that his government had intimated the Election Commission about the development, which subsequently informed the Union Home Ministry.
Asserting that cadres of underground groups must stay in designated camps as per the ground rules of the ceasefire, Jamir said his government resolved to take stern action against violators of the model code of conduct considering the latest development in the state. Jamir said 75 companies of paramilitary forces sought by the state government to conduct the polls had started arriving in Nagaland and would soon be deployed in all sensitive areas.
Meanwhile, police said seven Congress workers received injuries when suspected NSCN(I-M) activists assaulted them in a party office at Kohima village on Friday night. The police apprehended a cadre with the help of villagers.