Current assembly elections in Mizoram: A look at the main contenders

As the northeastern state prepares for Tuesday’s elections, all eyes are on the well-known candidates who are working very hard to win the Mizoram Assembly elections for their various parties.

One of the most well-known candidates in this election is Zoramthanga, the Chief Minister and President of the Mizo National Front (MNF). Zoramthanga, who won Aizawl East – I in the 2018 assembly elections, is running from the same seat this time around.

In an attempt to confront the three-time Chief Minister, the Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM), which sees itself as the main opposition in this election, has nominated Lalthansanga, the vice president of their party.

Lalsanglura Ralte, a novice contender, has been selected by the Congress to challenge the Chief Minister.

Second in leadership to MNF founder Laldenga, Zoramthanga had previously held the position of Chief Minister from 1998 to 2008 and again from 2018 onwards after the state’s overthrow of the Congress administration, which had ruled the region for ten years.

He received 42.5% of the vote in the 2018 state assembly elections, which was more than enough to beat independent candidate K Sapdanga (30%) and Congress candidate K Vanlalrawna (24.5%).

Leading ZPM politician Lalduhoma, who is also the party’s nominee for chief minister, will run from Serchhip, where he now serves as an MLA.

Lalduhoma received 35.4% of the vote in 2018, more than Lal Thanhawla (32.7%), the candidate for the Congress.

Lalduhoma will take against J Malsawmzual Vanchhawng, an MNF rookie. Serchhip’s R Vanlaltluanga, who had previously run an unsuccessful campaign in the 2013 Assembly elections, has been nominated by the Congress.

Lalduhoma, a former Mizorami IPS officer, was chosen in 1984 to serve as a Lok Sabha member. He is the ZNP’s founder and was selected in the 2018 Assembly votes as the ZNP-led Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) coalition’s first chief ministerial candidate.

Leading candidate in the Mizoram elections is Lalsawta, the leader of the state Congress, who is running from Aizawl West-III. Lalsawta is competing against MNF candidate K Sawmvela and ZPM candidate VL Zaithanzama.

From Aizawl East II, Lalsawta won the state elections in 2008 and 2013. Nevertheless, Robert Romawia Royte of MNF won the seat from it in 2018. Lalsawta was only able to get 26.9% of the vote, while MNF secured the seat with 41.4% of the total.

Lalsawta served as Mizoram’s Minister of Finance from 2008 till 2018. In2021, he was chosen to lead the Pradesh Congress Committee, taking over from Mizoram’s longest-serving chief minister, Lal Thanhawla.

Vanlalhmuaka, the party’s state president, is a prominent contender for the Bharatiya Janata Party, which made its debut in the state assembly elections of 2018 by winning one seat. He will be running from the Dampa constituency.

Tawnluia, the vice president of the MNF and deputy chief minister of Mizoram, will run from Tuichang. Tawnluia, who is eighty years old, is the oldest contender. When he ran from the same seat in the 2018 assembly elections, the Deputy CM was also the oldest contender. Tawnluia will face opposition from W Chhuanawma of ZPM.

Vanlalhmuaka will compete against Lalhmingthanga Sailo of the Congress, Vanlalsailova of ZPM, and Lalrintluanga Sailo of the Mizo National Front (MNF). Vanlalhmuaka had previously run as an independent, receiving 12.20 percent of the vote, behind the MNF, Congress, and Serlui constituency candidates.

Mizoram, a state in northeastern India, will hold elections on Tuesday; results will be tallied on December 3. There are 174 contenders in the running.

The 10-year-old Congress administration was overthrown in the 2018 assembly elections when the Mizo National Front (MNF) won 26 seats with a vote share of 37.8%.

Surprisingly finishing second in the 2018 elections, the regional party Zoram Peoples Movement (ZPM) won eight seats. Many consider it to be the front-runner for the party in power.

In the 2018 assembly elections, the BJP won one seat, its first in the northeastern state, while the Congress won five.