Mizoram goes to polls on Wednesday

Guwahati, November 27, 2018:

The one-phase Mizoram election will be held on Wednesday amidst the perception that the contest will be between ruling Congress and Mizo National Front (MNF).

For the first time in 32 years since Mizoram attained statehood, the polls could throw up a hung Assembly. The Congress and the MNF are the two main parties. The BJP will come into the picture only if no party reaches the halfway mark of 20 in the 40-member House. That precisely is what the Congress is worried about.

The Congress could not form the government in Manipur and Meghalaya despite emerging as the single largest party. In Manipur, the BJP had formed the government by successfully poaching the MLAs of some opposition parties including the ruling Congress. In Meghalaya, the BJP had managed to secure the support of some regional parties through political engineering to keep the Congress out of power. The government there was formed by the National People’s Party with the help of the regional parties and the BJP.

The Congress in Mizoram is upbeat about doing a hat-trick in power. The party hopes that the state government’s flagship programme New Land Use Policy (NLUP) will help it retain power. Under the scheme, farmers, who own agricultural land, are given a cash assistance of Rs.1 lakh every year so that they could start up a business in agriculture and allied sectors. However, things that are likely to go against the Congress this election are anti-incumbency and alleged corruption in the Lal Thanhawla government.

The MNF said the people would vote for the party as the “corruption-ridden” Congress is crumbling.

“People are fed up with the corrupt Congress which is crumbling. We are winning,” MNF chief and former Chief Minister Zoramthanga said.

Other than the Congress and the MNF, the Zoram People’s Movement, which is a conglomerate of some smaller regional parties, is likely to win some seats in urban Mizoram.