Zhaleo Rio

He was first elected to the Nagaland Legislative Assembly from Ghaspani II constituency in 2013 as a candidate of Naga People's Front. He defeated his nearest rival Y. Hewoto Awomi of the Indian National Congress (INC) by a margin of 2388 votes.^[1] In 2018 he won the seat as a candidate of the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP). He was the deputy speaker of Nagaland Legislative Assembly from 2018 to 2019 before being named as an advisor to Chief Minister of Nagaland Neiphiu Rio and allocated three departments (Sericulture, Excise and Minority Affairs).^[2][3][4][5]

He is the brother of Nagaland Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio.