Tokheho

Tokheho Yepthomi (born 1 April 1956) is an Indian politician from Nagaland. He is a former Cabinet Minister of Nagaland and currently Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha for Nagaland.

Tokheho Yepthomi
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
Assumed office
23 May 2019
Preceded byTokheho Yepthomi
ConstituencyNagaland
In office
31 May 2018 – 23 May 2019
Preceded byNeiphiu Rio
Member of Nagaland Legislative Assembly
In office
1993–2018
Personal details
Born (1956-04-01) 1 April 1956
Aghunato, Zunheboto, Nagaland, India
Political partyNationalist Democratic Progressive Party
Spouse(s)Ruth Tokheho

Early life and personal life

Tokheho Yepthomi was born and raised in Aghunato, Nagaland. He graduated from St. Edmunds College, Shillong and was an active student leader in his college days. He served as the President of Eastern Sumi Students Union before joining active politics as a member of the India National youth Congress. Prior to seeking election he was involved in the timber trade during the peak timber business period of Nagaland in the 1980s.

Political career

Tokheho Yepthomi has been elected to the Nagaland Legislative Assembly for 5 terms from 1993 to 2018. He has served as a cabinet minister for Transport and Communication, Public Health Engineering Department and Public Works Department from 1995 to 2008 under former Chief Ministers S C Jamir and Neiphiu Rio.

He served as the Congress Legislature Party Leader and Leader of Opposition in the state assembly from 2010 to 2015.. While in opposition, he led a campaign for the dismissal of the then state Education Minister, Nyeiwang Konyak who was allegedly involved in financial irregularities of INR 5,000,000 in the department. He appealed to then Nagaland state governor Nikhil Kumar to accord sanction for prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act. [1]

As T. R. Zeliang reshuffled and expanded his cabinet, Yepthomi joined was sworn as a cabinet minister while still being part of the Indian National Congress to form a government with no opposition in the state legislature.[2] He was allotted the portfolio of Public Health Engineering, School Education and Parliament Affairs in May 2015.

After joining the newly formed Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), Yepthomi was selected as the consensus candidate for the People's Democratic Alliance (PDA) to contest for By-election to the lone Lok Sabha seat from Nagaland in 2018. The seat was vacated by Neiphiu Rio to become the Chief Minister of Nagaland. He was again selected as the consensus candidate for the PDA in the 2019 General Elections. In the closest election in recent history, Yepthomi won a second term in Lok Sabha by a margin of around 16344 votes.[3]

References
  1. "Opposition Cong campaign to oust Education Minister; meets Governor" (Dimapur). The Morung Express. 13 August 2011. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  2. "'Team' Nagaland". The Statesman. 17 May 2015. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  3. "Tokheho Yepthomi of NDPP won the Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland". Nagaland Express. 23 May 2019. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
Lok Sabha
Preceded by
Neiphiu Rio		 Member of Parliament for Nagaland
2018 – Present		 Incumbent
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