BJP’s S Phangnon Konyak set to be first woman from Nagaland to enter Rajya Sabha

Kohima, Mar 22: In a major development, S Phangnon Konyak from Bharatiya Janata Party is all set to be the first woman member from Nagaland in the Rajya Sabha. She is the second woman to be part of parliament from the state and the first one to be part of RS from the state.

 

 

According to the reports, the nomination filing for the candidacy ended yesterday and no other person has filed to contest against her. Her selection for RS will make her the second woman to be part of the parliament from the state of Nagaland in 45 years. Before her Rano M Shaiza was the first Naga woman to be elected as a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha elections of 1977.

 

 

The 44-year-old joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2017. She holds a master’s degree in English Literature from Delhi University. She was the batch of 2002. During that period of time, she was deeply involved in student activism and other social organisations.

 

Presently, she is the BJP Mahila Morcha Nagaland’s President. The declaration of Konyak being the candidate for the party was made on March 18 while NPF had decided on nominating one of their vice presidents Thenucho Tunyi against her on March 19. Several BJP ministers had congratulated the lady for this feat.

 

 

Konyak filed her nomination papers in the presence of Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, Deputy Chief Minister Y Patton, BJP President and minister Imna Along and other leaders.

 

 

When selected, she will be replacing the Rajya Sabha member from the state and political party Naga People’s Front (NPF) KG Kenye, whose tenure ends on April 2. NPF constitutes the major part of the ruling political coalition United Democratic Alliance, which was going to nominate their own candidate but could not bring in the support of ten MLAs to nominate the candidate. The party has a total of 25 MLAs.