The Kohima bench of the high court stayed Governor P B Acharya's order on a plea by Chief Minister Liezietsu and slated the matter for further hearing on Monday.
The petition by Liezietsu argued that the governor's directive was "ex facie unconstitutional, illegal, arbitrary and violative of the basic features of the Constitution".
It said the process of bye-elections, in which petitioner Liezietsu is seeking to be elected, is already under process and, therefore, it was "imperative and incumbent" upon the governor to call upon the petitioner to prove its majority on the floor of the House only pursuant to the by-elections wherein the petitioner is a candidate.
There was no recommendation from the Council of Ministers to the governor, the petitioner argued, and the governor on his own volition chose to impose the impugned decision upon the petitioner without any legal foundation and against the constitutional norms.
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"The Governor, without affording an opportunity to the petitioner for a free and fair election for his candidature, has hastily proceeded to reject the request made by the petitioner herein to pre-empt the already scheduled elections," it stated.
The newly-elected chairman of the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland Coordination Committee, Kuzholuzo Nienu, told the Governor that the DAN coalition was intact and that the present crisis was only within the NPF party.