While the polls for the 40-member Mizoram Assembly have traditionally been a direct fight between the Mizo National Front (MNF) – the incumbent party led by Chief Minister Zoramthanga – and the Congress, the election this time has turned into a triangular battle in the wake of emergence of a new player, Zoram’s People Movement (ZPM). Voting will take place in the state on Tuesday following weeks of campaigning by various contenders, which remained a low-voltage affair. A total of 174 candidates are in the fray: the MNF, Congress and ZPM are fighting from all 40 constituencies, and the BJP, AAP and Independents are contesting 23 seats, 4 and 27, respectively. Mizoram politics has been dominated by the MNF and Congress since the formation of the state in 1987, with the reins of power alternating between two CMs – Zoramthanga and the Congress’s Lal Thanhawla. However, after ruling the state for consecutive two terms, the Congress was decimated in the 2018 polls – plunging to a tally of just five MLAs as against the MNF's 26 – and the five-time CM Thanhawla has since retired from politics. In this election, the MNF and ZPM have undertaken vigorous campaigns, with the ruling party's blue flags and the latter's yellow flags appearing everywhere. The MNF is hoping that its championing of Mizo nationalism will fuel its return to power for second consecutive time. Significantly, the ZPM is being increasingly seen in the state as the MNF's key challenger. Led by its CM face Lalduhoma, former IPS officer, the ZPM has been able to generate a buzz in the poll arena, riding on its promise to undertake government reforms to bring in a “new system”. Most of the ZPM's candidates are fresh faces. So far, the ZPM has been riding high on a string of successes. It started as a common platform of six small regional parties and civil society groups in 2017. It was yet to be recognised as a party during the 2018 polls. So, there were 38 Independent candidates in the fray backed by this common platform, of whom eight went on to become MLAs, making it the second-largest presence in the Assembly. In 2019, the ZPM became a recognised party and two years later it made an even stronger statement when Lalduhoma won the Serchhip Assembly bypoll after he was disqualified from the Assembly for “defecting” to the ZPM after being elected as an Independent. The Congress is looking for a reversal in its fortunes under the changed leadership, with ex-finance minister Lalswata heading the state unit after Thanhawla's retirement in 2021. Its campaign has mainly been centred on an anti-BJP plank, portraying both the MNF and ZPM as “entry points” for the BJP into the Christian majority state. The Congress has been telling voters that while the MNF is a part of the NDA, the ZPM would be its “potential ally”. Rahul Gandhi was the first national leader to visit the state, on October 16, for campaigning. Subsequently, other senior Congress leaders, including Jairam Ramesh and Shashi Tharoor, made their way to the state. The poll outcome will be important for the Congress as Mizoram was its “last bastion” in the Northeast region that it lost in 2018. The BJP has also been making attempts to expand its footprint in the state. While Union Minister of Earth Sciences, Kiren Rijiju, has been leading the BJP's electioneering efforts as its election-in-charge for the last few weeks, several senior leaders – such as Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, national party president J P Nadda and Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal – have also visited the state for campaigning. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Mizoram, which was scheduled for October 30, was cancelled, while Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Assam CM and NEDA convener Himanta Biswa Sarma gave the state's campaign trail a miss. By contesting just 23 seats, the BJP might not be aiming to clinch the polls, but state party leaders such as Lalrinliana Sailo are hopeful that it would play a role in government formation given the indications that the polls would be a close race. The ethnic conflict roiling the neighbouring state of Manipur is also looming over the BJP's Mizoram campaign. Manipur's Kuki-Zomi community – which shares ethnicity with Mizos – has been at odds with the Biren Singh-led BJP government there, even as Mizoram has seen a stream of such refugees in recent months. The Congress has stridently raked up the Manipur crisis against the BJP in its Mizoram poll campaign, citing it as an example of the latter's alleged “misgovernance” in the Northeast region. The MNF, too, hopes the Manipur crisis would boost its poll prospects. The party has been vocally in support of Kuki-Zomis, welcomed them as refugees while providing them material assistance. There are 16 women candidates in the fray, fielded by various parties, who have formidable odds stacked against them: the Assembly does not have a single sitting woman legislator and has seen only four women MLAs since its formation in 1987.
