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Battle lines are being drawn ahead of the Mizoram Assembly elections. The parties in the fray include Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP), Mizoram People’s Conference (MPC), All India Trinamool Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Congress
Mizoram is the only state in the entire Northeast at present under Congress rule. Hence, it would be important to see whether the party manages to hold fort or not.
The party, led by Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla, is contesting from all 40 seats in the upcoming polls on November 28 in a single-phase voting.
In the 2008 assembly poll, Congress won 32 out of the 40 seats with 39 percent vote share, while the Mizo National Front (MNF) had three seats with 31 percent vote share.
In 2013, the Congress increased both its seat count and vote share (34 and 45 percent) while the MNF saw its vote share decrease to 29 percent but walked away with five seats.
In the last Lok Sabha election, Mizoram sent a Congress representative to Parliament – the state’s lone MP.
Meanwhile, sources in the ruling party are saying a massive tussle has been going within the party over selection of candidates.
Party insiders said the Congress top leadership wanted to axe some legislators who were too old or had little chance to win. While doing this, the party is also taking great care to ensure those left out would not be too numerous to form a rebellious lobby against the party, a leader said.
The move could widen the crack, especially after the recent resignations of Home Minister Lalzirliana and former minister and sitting legislator Lalrinliana Sailo.
In addition, two Congress leaders quit the party to join the MNF. Dr BD Chakma, former minister and a Chakma tribe leader, also quit the Congress to join the BJP.
To address this challenge, Congress is determined to change its strategy. The party is inducting new faces and looking forward to field at least 10 to 12 young faces in place of its sitting MLAs as party candidates.
Another challenge the party has to overcome is anti-incumbency sentiment. The Congress-led government has had to face flak on two accounts — the state of infrastructure, and abolition of alcohol prohibition.
Using these as platform and challenging the Congress is not so much the BJP but the MNF. The Northeastern state has been swinging between Congress and the Mizo National Front (MNF) since 1984 (although with a short President’s rule in 1988).
Although a small state with only 7.68 lakh people on the rolls, Mizoram will be an important battlefield for the Congress where the party will test its ability to hold the only post they currently have in the Northeast.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
Unlike Congress, the BJP is present in most of the northeastern region. While it is ruling Assam, Tripura, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, it supports coalition governments in Meghalaya and Nagaland. Hence, winning Mizoram polls would help the party achieve its mission of a Congress-mukt (free) Northeast India.
The BJP will contest from 13 of the 40 assembly seats in the Christian-dominated state, state unit president JV Hluna said.
According to the 2011 census, 87.16 percent of the population in Mizoram is Christian, and reports indicate that the Mizos still view the BJP with skepticism. The party wants to change that.
The BJP is trying to create a dent in this otherwise two-headed race between Congress and MNF. Party president Amit Shah spoke to about 7,000 BJP workers in Aizawl and accused Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla of running “a corrupt and dynastic rule” in the state.
He claimed the CM was trying to install his younger brother, currently the health minister, as the next chief minister.
Mizo National Front (MNF)
Along with Congress, the MNF party has also declared that it would contest from all 40 seats for the assembly elections.
Earlier this week, party president Zoramthanga announced names of 39 candidates, of which 17 are first-timers.
An MNF party leader said the exodus of leaders from the Congress will likely improve MNF’s chances in the polls. He also said that strong winds are blowing in favour of the MNF and not the BJP, as assumed.
The MNF is determined to make a comeback after 10 years.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)
The Sharad Pawar-led NCP party announced that it would contest from five seats. “The party will contest from five seats, including Hachhek, Dampa, Mamit, Aizawl East-I and Aizawl West-I Assembly constituencies,” said NCP Mizoram state unit president Lalawmpuia Chhangte.
Chhangte also expressed hope that the NCP has chances of winning the election from at least Hachhek and Mamit seats, where the party candidates had bagged 2,467 votes and 2,368 votes respectively in the 2013 assembly polls.
The NCP, which has been contesting assembly polls in Mizoram since 2003, had not won a single seat in 2013.
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