Cong accepts people's verdict: NPCC

Kohima, Mar 17 (UNI) Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) President Hokheto Sumi today said the party has accepted the people's verdict in Nagaland in the recently-concluded Nagaland Assembly elections.

In a statement here, Mr Hokheto expressed gratitude to the people of the state for showing maturity by casting a very reasonable percentage of votes.

He, furthermore, appealed to the Congress functionaries not to lose hope and assured them that the party would take advantage if anything went wrong in the present Government, which he said it might since it does not have a single party majority.

Maintaining that the Congress was having high hopes of becoming the single largest party in the 60-Member Assembly, he expressed that his party could not capitalise upon some issues against the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) during the election process, but did not divulge the details.

On the star campaigners Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and AICC Chairperson Sonia Gandhi's visit to the state before the elections, he said their visit could not have much impact in the state, but Mrs Gandhi's visit had impact in Dimapur and four Congress candidates, out of five seats have won the elections.

He said the failure of the Congress in the elections was due to the imposition of President's rule and discrepancies in issuing party tickets to Congress candidates.

On the overall election process, he remarked that in spite of pre-poll violence and stray incidents being reported on the day of polling, by and large the whole process was peaceful.

Furthermore, he appealed to the party workers to be prepared for a victory in the next elections.

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