Nagaland: BJP candidate wins unopposed as Cong opponent withdraws candidature

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Kazheto Kinimi was elected unopposed from Nagaland’s Akuluto after his lone opponent N Khekashe Sumi of the Congress withdrew his candidature on Friday days before the assembly polls on February 27

Kinimi, 68, contested his first election from the same constituency and defeated former Naga People’s Front lawmaker Khekaho Assumi by a margin of 735 votes in 2018.

State Congress leaders did not wish to comment immediately on the withdrawal of the candidature of Sumi, a recent entrant into the party. Congress will now contest 24 of Nagaland’s 60 assembly seats.

The BJP is contesting 20 seats in alliance with chief minister Neiphiu Rio’s Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party.