Besides the BJP and Congress running for elections in Mizoram, other parties which are going to fight the battle are Mizoram National Front (MNF), Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP), Mizoram People’s Conference (MPC), All India Trinamool Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Communist Party of India (Marxist).
The Northeastern state has been mainly ruled by Congress and the Mizo National Front (MNF) since 1984 with a short President’s rule in 1988. But this time, the BJP is leaving no stone unturned to form the government in the state.
Currently, Mizoram is the only state in north east India to be under Congress’ rule. After the 2014 elections, Congress has continuously lost the state elections to BJP. This year the elections in five states including Mizoram are crucial to Congress because that is likely to set the tone for 2019 general elections.
In Mizoram, the Congress party is going to contest from all the 40 seats while BJP has announced that it will contest the election on 13 seats. Although the Congress’ number of seats and vote share has seen an increasing trend since 2008 assembly poll, this time the party is facing anti-incumbency and conflict in the party itself.
Four leaders from the party have already resigned. The Home Minister Lalzirliana and former minister and sitting legislator Lalrinliana Sailo have already resigned earlier this month and joined the MNF. Recently, Dr BD Chakma, former minister and a Chakma tribe leader also quit the Congress to join the BJP.
The ruling party is also witnessing a massive tussle within the party over selection of candidates. The Congress party has released the list of candidates and has inducted new faces to deal with the anti-incumbent forces.
The BJP is present across the north-eastern region with its foot in Assam, Tripura, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, while it supports coalition governments in Meghalaya and Nagaland. BJP is too keen to snatch Mizoram too.
The party is trying to remove the skepticism of people of Mizoram who are mostly Christian and perceive the saffron party to be against them. According to the 2011 census, 87.16 percent of the population in Mizoram is Christian and BJP is working towards gaining their trust.
The BJP President Amit Shah had recently visited Aizawl spoke to about 7,000 BJP workers where he accused Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla of running “a corrupt and dynastic rule” in the state.
He further claimed that the CM was trying to appoint his younger brother, currently the health minister, as the next chief minister.
The MNF party has also declared that it would contest from all 40 seats for the assembly elections.
The party president Zoramthanga has announced names of 39 candidates, of which 17 are first-timers.
The MNF believes that the leaders who are leaving Congress to join MNF will probably improve its 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.
Another party in the line is Sharad Pawar-led NCP which announced that it will contest the election in Mizoram 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.