March 2, 2023:
The public of the state of Nagaland has finally chosen their first female representative to the state assembly marking the end to the all-male representation culture in the same. And Hekani Jakhalu has become the first female representative to the Nagaland Assembly.
Hekani Jakhalu is a 48-year-old lady, who was one among the four women who were contesting in the Nagaland Assembly polls of 2023. She is a popular lawyer and activist in the state who had won laurels including the Nari Shakti Purashar from the President of India in 2018.
A total of 183 candidates had appeared from the 59 assembly seats for which the election was hosted on February 27.
She appeared as the candidate for the National Democratic People’s Party which had formed a pre-poll alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party. Her constituency is the Dimapur -III falling under the Chumoukedima district of the state of Nagaland.
She defeated Azheto Zhimomi of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) by a total of 1536 votes and V. Lasuh, the Indian National Congress party.
“Society in Nagaland has been very patriarchal but the mindset is changing. This reflects in the time and energy the NDPP is spending on me and my fellow candidate, Salhoutuonuo Kruse contesting the Western Angami seat,” she had mentioned in one of her election campaigns.
Notably, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had also campaigned for her as a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party- Nationalist Democratic People’s Party.
Her party has won 8 seats and led in seventeen more seats as the counting of votes was still going on.
