Six Eastern Nagaland districts have decided to abstain from the June 26 election to urban local bodies being held after a gap of two decades after skipping the Lok Sabha polls in April.

Eastern Nagaland Peoples’ Organisation (ENPO) president R.T. Sangtam told The Telegraph on Wednesday, “We have decided not to participate in the urban local bodies polls. We are abstaining, not boycotting the poll like we did last month (Lok Sabha poll). We will not participate in any state or general election till our Frontier Nagaland Territory (FNT) arrangement is fulfilled.”

He said the FNT was offered by the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) in December and they had assured to formalise its creation before the model code of conduct for the general election kicked in.

Since nothing materialised before March 16, the day the seven-phase country-wide Lok Sabha polls were announced, the ENPO decided to abstain from the Lok Sabha poll for the lone Nagaland seat on April 19. Nagaland, ruled by the NDPP-BJP alliance, has one Lok Sabha seat.

The last ULB polls were held in 2004 but then ran into trouble, especially over 33 per cent reservation for women.

After several inconclusive attempts to hold the election, which resulted in exhaustive consultations among stakeholders, court cases and violence, there is now unanimity to hold the polls under a new Nagaland Municipal Act passed by the state Assembly in 2023.

The new act reserves 33 per cent seats for women but without reservation for the chairperson’s post and exemption tax on immovable property.

Sangtam said the decision not to participate in the ULB polls was taken at a meeting of tribal Hohos and the ENPO executive members in Dimapur on Tuesday.

The ENPO represents eight tribes from the six districts.