The Mizoram assembly election saw a three-way contest
New Delhi:
The Chief Minister Zoramthanga-led Mizo National Front (MNF) has fallen behind in the early trends as Mizoram counts votes for the Assembly polls held on November 7.
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The Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM), an alliance of six parties, has surged past the majority mark in early trends. It is now leading on 26 Assembly seats out of 40. The MNF is currently leading on 9 seats, with the Congress a distant third.
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The MNF, ZPM and the Congress had contested 40 seats each, while the BJP fielded candidates in 13 seats. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which contested the assembly polls in Mizoram for the first time, contested four seats. There were 17 independent candidates too.
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Some exit polls predicted a clean sweep by the ZPM, but the majority indicated a hung assembly with no party getting a clear majority.
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In the last assembly election in 2018, the MNF won 26 seats and the ZPM eight seats, relegating the Congress that bagged five seats to the third place. The BJP won one seat.
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Zoramthanga’s party has projected him as the “guardian of the Chin-Kuki-Zo tribes”, though his rivals and other parties like the BJP has accused him of corruption, not checking rising unemployment and drug trafficking, and poor infrastructure.
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Though the MNF is an ally of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Zoramthanga – citing kinship and familial ties with the Chin-Kuki tribes in Myanmar – has openly given shelter to at least 40,000 refugees who fled from the junta rule in the neighbouring nation.
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ZPM chief Lalduhoma said people are tired of the MNF. “Mizoram has been under the MNF for a long time. And people really want change in the way they are governed. They want to end corruption,” Lalduhoma told NDTV during the election campaign.
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Elaborate arrangements have been made for the counting of votes. The counting was supposed to happen yesterday along with Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana.
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The Election Commission, however, deferred it to today following appeals by political parties, churches, and student bodies as Sunday is a day for prayers in the Christian-majority state.
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In some of the seats that have a lesser number of voters, only two rounds of counting will be held, but in most of the constituencies, five rounds will be counted.
