The immediate catalyst for the tensions that lashed Manipur and Nagaland in recent months was the announcement, in April, of elections to the six Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) in the hill districts of Manipur. First created in 1968 under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution specifically for the hill districts of Manipur, the demand for these bodies led to the framing of the Manipur (Hill Areas) District Council Act in 1971. Yet elections to the councils, held every five years, last took place only in 1988 for Senapati and 1984 in the other hill districts.
In 2009, the Indigenous Democratic Front (IDF), a hill-based organisation, started to agitate for ADC elections to be held as soon as possible, in accordance with a 2008 amendment to the 1971 Act.
However, other hill-based groups, including the Zeliangrong Union (ZU) and the Movement for Tribal People's Rights, Manipur (MTPRM), comprising both Naga and some non-Naga groups, protested against this demand. In February of this year, the All Naga Students' Association of Manipur (ANSAM) and the United Naga Council (UNC), the apex body of Naga organisations in Manipur, likewise submitted a memorandum to the state government to amend the Act. According to the Naga groups, certain sections in the Manipur post-amendment act give considerable powers to the district councils regarding rights to land, forest and succession to the chief's post. Up until this point, these matters have fallen under the supervision of village authorities, where protesting groups feel they should remain.
Seemingly oblivious of the simmering tension, however, an end-March meeting of the Manipur state cabinet recommended a two-phase election to the ADCs, in late May and early June. Following Imphal's refusal to accede to their demands, the UNC and other Naga groups launched a number of agitations, culminating on 11 April when ANSAM called an indefinite economic blockade along National Highways 39 and 53. Still, it should be noted that other tribal groups did support the ADC elections. The Manipur Tribal Council and the Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM), for instance, stressed that polls were need to uplift the tribal community. While many would see what is transpiring in Manipur and elsewhere solely along ethnic lines, other factors, including politics, also play critical roles.