Amos, elder brother of late Tongpa, demanded for answers from Deputy Commissioner Noklak as his brother’s dead body remains laid at Local Ground outside the DC’s Office in Noklak Town on Wednesday evening.

“My brother is still lying at the Local Ground. We are demanding Justice from the DC,” he said, adding that they will take the body only if justice is granted.

Pain-struck Amos told Nagaland Tribune that he received the tragic news when he was at Tuensang district on election duty.

He said he was shocked.

The elder brother of the deceased said that last night’s incident took place because proper formalities were not carried out during the polling at Polling Station no. 7 in Noklak Village ‘A’, forcing the BJP supporters to come to the DC for clarification, during which the paramilitary fired, and a bullet hit late Tongpa.

“He was shot from the back and the bullet exited from his front. He was spot dead at the local ground,” Amos stated.

Amos, elder brother of late Tongpa.

An election official himself, he said that procedures need to be followed like how they were trained by the master trainers so that incidents like this will not repeat in the future.

BJP supporters at 56 Noklak Assembly Constituency had demanded a re-poll at PS no.7 alleging that the Presiding Officer closed polling and took away the EVM without the signatures of its Polling Agents. The situation got worse when the Election Commission of India announced re-poll in 4 PS but not in theirs.

Late Tongpa died somewhere close to midnight on 1 March and his body still lay at the local Ground as his family members, relatives, and party supporters demand justice. They await communication from EC but even the district administration is silent with the DC reportedly gone into hiding.

Speaking to Nagaland Tribune, BJP party workers of 56th Noklak constituency reiterated that EVM is supposed to be removed from the polling centre only after necessary procedure is completed.

Paramilitary observes as BJP supporters protest and shout “We Want Justice!” at Noklak Local Ground on 1 March 2023.

Stating that the election was not fair at Noklak Village, the BJP party workers stated that 20 tokens was issued after 4:00 pm to people standing in the front when it should have been given to the people in the back. That was how some people managed to cast multiple votes. Once that was done, the remaining voters, mostly BJP supporters, were denied their Right to Vote and the EVM was shut down and taken away, the party workers added.

There were 70-80 voters waiting to cast their votes at that time, they stated.

The BJP expressed that they are in sorrow over the death and asserted that they will stand for what Tongpa had sacrificed.

Regarding the physical findings on the deceased, official reports have not been released yet by either the medical department nor the police department.

But it is clear that it was a bullet that took late Tongpa’s life.