Aizawl, May 23 (IANS) C. Lalrosanga of the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) was declared elected from the state’s lone Lok Sabha seat on Thursday, defeating his nearest Independent rival Lalnghinglova Hmar by 8,307 votes, the Election Commission announced.
The MNF, a constituent of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA, has also won the Assembly by-election in the state.
Lalrosanga, a former Indian Broadcasting Programme Service officer and retired Director General of Doordarshan, secured 223,509 votes (44.89 per cent). Hmar, backed by the opposition Congress and the Zoram People’s Movement alliance, bagged 215,202 votes (43.26 per cent).
C.L. Ruala of the Congress had won the Lok Sabha seat in Mizoram in 2014.
Altogether six candidates, including Lalthlamuani – the first woman to fight the parliamentary polls in Mizoram – were in the fray in the constituency, which voted on April 11 in the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls.
MNF nominee Zothantluanga won the bypoll to the Aizawl West-1 Assembly seat, defeating Independent candidate Lalbuanga Sailo by 7,035 votes. The by-electionwas necessitated after ZPM legislator Lalduhoma vacated it to retain the Serchhip constituency.
The MNF, led by Zoramthanga, had delivered a humiliating defeat to Lal Thanhawla-led Congress government in the November 2018 Assembly polls, winning 26 seats in the 40-member house. With the bypoll win, the MNF’s strength has risen to 27.