Congress will get ‘full majority’: Mizoram CM Lal Thanhawla

Guwahati, November 28, 2018:

As Mizoram votes on Wednesday, Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla said his Congress would retain power by getting “full majority”.

“I am very certain that Congress will get 27 seats and above. I am going to break the jinx,” he said.

The jinx in Mizoram is that ever since the state’s attainment of statehood in 1986, no party ever tasted power for the third time in a row. The Congress has been in power for the past two terms.

While Lal Thanhawla was also optimistic about winning seats in Chakma areas, he was not so sure about it in Bru areas. For this, he sniffed the BJP’s use of “money power”.

“I suspect the BJP lavishly distributed money to the Bru voters,” he said.

The state’s principal opposition Mizo National Front (MNF) dismissed speculations that the polls would throw up a hung House.

“We will win. This is because of the Congress government’s failures. They are selling liquor by going against the Church, NGOs and people at large. There is mismanagement of the financial system and lack of development under the Congress government,” MNF chief and former Chief Minister Zoramthanga said.

The Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM), which is a conglomerate of some smaller regional parties and expected to win some seats, said it would not have to align with any political party, including the MNF, post-poll as it would win the elections on its own.

Meanwhile, there was a lot of enthusiasm among the displaced Bru voters who came to Kahnmun in Mizoram from the relief camps in Tripura to cast votes.

There were long queues of the Bru voters at the 15 polling stations at Kahnmun. Given their large number, there is a possibility that the Election Commission will extend the time of voting so that each one of them could participate in the celebration of democracy.

There are nearly 12,000 Bru voters in Tripura. It was not immediately known how many of them had come to cast votes. They were transported to Mizoram by the Tripura government.

When reports last came in at 1:30 pm, the voting percentage statewide was 50. Several elderly people, some aged over 100 years, had turned up to cast votes, indicating the enthusiasm among voters.